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Last week LG announced that it would allow third-party TV manufacturers to use its webOS platform and now its main rival is following suit. Samsung revealed that it will license its Tizen OS TV platform for use on non-Samsung TV models for the first time, partnering with Akai, RCA and a number of other brands (Bauhn, Linsar, Sunny, Vispera) sold in Europe, Australia. and New Zealand.
The partnership gives those manufacturers access to Tizen OS features such as Samsung TV Plus (TV and video streaming platform), Global Discovery Guide and personalized recommendations, and Samsung’s Bixby and other voice assistants.
As we noted when LG first announced that it would license webOS to other TV makers, these deals give consumers another option for low-cost TVs that might otherwise run Android TV, Roku or Amazon’s Fire TV. While you may not have heard of many of the features mentioned, the fact that Samsung is opening up its Tizen platform means that it could come to TVs sold in the US at some point.
Samsung’s Smart TV and LG’s webOS are good options instead of Android TV, as both offer good search and personalization capabilities, a choice of multiple voice assistants (their own and Alexa and Google) and support for Apple Airplay (though not Chromecast). Google TV is a big upgrade from Android TV, but most TVs and streaming boxes like NVIDIA’s Shield TV still use the latter – although Google’s plan is to eventually have all third-party devices running Google TV.
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