Samsung hopes to entice developers to build apps for Tizen TVs with update

By Jaina Grey Published February 2, 2017

Samsung unveiled an important update to its Tizen development kit on Wednesday, it’s a bit of an “inside baseball” kind of announcement, but it has far-reaching implications for the nascent operating system platform. The announcement concerns a new version of the .NET Core developer preview, which is a significant update to the previous version, and makes it a bit easier for developers to get started on the platform.

The exact details here aren’t important to most users, but the implications of the update suggest the direction Samsung is going to take with Tizen. Given that it is a stand-alone operating system, not an offshoot of Android or Chrome OS, there is some concern about how many developers would take the time to develop for it — even with Samsung’s significant backing.

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It’s been on the market for years but has a minuscule market share compared to Android and iOS. Samsung hopes to change all of that by building Tizen into some of its flagship TV and smartphone offerings. According to MS Power User, Samsung unveiled a new version of the .NET Core for Tizen developers Wednesday as part of that strategy.

This second version of the .NET Core allows developers to use familiar .NET APIs for the development of apps for Samsung’s upcoming Tizen TVs — a big step up from the previous release which only came with mobile application support.

Samsung has big plans for Tizen but in the end, its devices will be defined by their apps, and apps only exist with a strong community of developers. Wednesday’s announcement is another move to strengthen support among existing .NET developers, who will be able to develop for the platform without having to start from scratch.

It’s here that we can see Samsung laying the groundwork for its Tizen-powered devices, long before they ever hit the marketplace. Plus, the release is an important step toward building Tizen into the platform Samsung wants it to be — a go-to OS for their TVs, phones, and tablets. After all, we only have to look as far as Windows Phone to see what happens when a platform doesn’t have a robust developer community.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jaina Grey is a Seattle-based journalist with over a decade of experience covering technology, coffee, gaming, and AI. Her…

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