Tizen (ˈtaɪzɛn) is a Linux-based mobile operating system backed by the Linux Foundation, developed and used primarily by Samsung Electronics.
The project was originally conceived as an HTML5-based platform for mobile devices to succeed MeeGo. Samsung merged its previous Linux-based OS effort, Bada, into Tizen, and has since used it primarily on platforms such as wearable devices and smart TVs.
Much of Tizen is open source software, although the software development kit contains proprietary components owned by Samsung, and portions of the OS are licensed under the Flora License, a derivative of the Apache License 2.0 that grants a patent license only to "Tizen certified platforms".
In May 2021, Google announced that Samsung would partner with the company on integrating Tizen features with its Android-derived Wear OS, and committed to use it on future wearables, leaving Tizen to be mainly developed for Samsung Smart TV.
The project was initiated as mobile Linux and was launched by Intel in July 2007, in April 2009 the operating system had managed to updated to version 2.0 which the core was based on Fedora. However, on the same month, Intel turned Moblin over to the Linux Foundation for future development. Eventually, the operating system was merged with Nokia Maemo, a Debian based Linux distro, into MeeGo which mainly developed by Nokia, Intel and Linux Foundation.
In 2011, after Nokia abandoned the project, Linux Foundation initiated the Tizen project as a successor to MeeGo, another Linux-based mobile operating system, with its main backer Intel joining Samsung Electronics, as well as Access Co., NEC Casio, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile, SK Telecom, Telefónica, and Vodafone as commercial partners. Tizen would be designed to use HTML5 apps, and target mobile and embedded platforms such as netbooks, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and in-car entertainment systems. U.S. carrier Sprint Corporation (which was a backer of MeeGo) joined the Tizen Association in May 2012.