st when we thought that things were looking up for Samsung ’s working relationship, The Information reports that the two companies have found something else to squabble about.
According to anonymous sources, CEO rry ge is apparently upset with Samsung Vice Chairman y Y. his company’s weak embrace of ’s new Android ar OS. The two met at the len & Company conference in Sun Valley, an annual media finance conference, ge apparently expressed frustration that Samsung is prioritizing its Tizen-based smartwatches over wearables running ’s Android ar.
Samsung currently has three smartwatches on the market running its own proprietary wearables software, which debuted earlier this year at Mobile rld Congress in Barcelona. Samsung then followed up with its own Tizen Developer Conference before announcing its own Android ar-powered watch, the Gear ve.
Apparently, ge also used their time together to delve a bit into their smartphone partnership. had asked Samsung to pull the reins back on publishing apps that were similar to those included in the stard suite of Android apps. Samsung has obviously complied since then; the number of “app duplicates” on its latest flagship, the Galaxy S5, have gone down significantly.
’ve known for a while that there has been some tension between the two powerhouses. wants OEM devices to help it evangelize the way of Android to its users, while Samsung aims to spread the gospel of it being the greatest device manufacturer of all time. For Samsung, being reliant on Android would mean less of an ability to branch off on its own build its own software empire to accompany its many devices, ’s Sundar chai has said that it would have no problem walking away from Samsung. The Android maker is partnering with other manufacturers for Android One Android Silver, anyway.
As for wearables, well, let’s be honest here: while there are a variety of gadgets coming out in the wearables space, we’re still in the beginning stages. For all we know, smartwatches could never really catch on, or it could take a few generations of devices before it finally takes off. By then, maybe Samsung will have more of a unified front against whatever wearable Apple is likely to debut.
