Samsung-Google friction is the reason behind Tizen push

There is a general feeling among the Android cognoscenti that Samsung is bad for Google. Most Android fans know that Samsung no longer markets its phones as Android. They either say Android-based or just say TouchWiz or Nature UX. This, despite the fact that Samsung sells the most Android smartphones in the world.

There’s of course nothing wrong with what Samsung is doing, lest this be mistaken for a complaint. As long as Samsung complies with the General Public License (GPL) terms and conditions, they are free to market their phones however they want. But its dominance of the market could have scared Google. Samsung sells about 40 percent of all devices that use Android as the OS and Google is reportedly worried that the Korean company’s Galaxy line of smartphones could grow larger than Android itself.

Google’s Motorola acquisition is seen as an answer to protect itself from such a situation becoming a reality. Google now has the manufacturing units that were previously owned by Motorola and can combine it with the software knowhow to release their own line of smartphones instead of the annual Nexus refresh. If, and this is a big if, the Mountain View company also manages to price these like it does the Nexus phones, then Samsung could have a real fight on its hands. As things stand, there is a slight tension in the air between the two companies, but things could get more intense.
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