Samsung Electronics, the second largest producer of mobile phones worldwide announced on Wednesday collaborative software agreements with Intel and Microsoft in order to reduce exposure of the Android operating system provided by Google, writes Reuters.
The South Korean company has quickly become one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones in the world, thanks to products that use the Android platform.
According to analysts, the agreement indicates Samsung’s intention of reducing the dependence to Android, after Google took over Motorola Mobility in August for $12.5 billion.
“Google-Motorola agreement motivated Samsung to reduce its dependence on Android”, said Matthew Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities company.
Microsoft and Samsung have signed on Wednesday a new agreement for the development and sale of phones with Windows phone operating system and agreed to grant a reciprocal license agreement. Samsung has used in the past Microsoft software.
Two Linux software provider groups, one supported by Samsung and the other one by Intel, announced that they will jointly develop a new operating system for mobile phones and other devices.
The LiMo Foundation and the Linux Foundation will merge the mobile operating systems, LiMo and MeeGo, but analysts believe that the new platform, Tizen, will probably have problems on the market.
Nokia Group, the largest mobile phone maker in the world by volume, was forced this year to give up its Symbian operating system in favor of Microsoft Windows Phone.
Currently, Windows Phone has a smartphone market share of 2% -3%, LiMo and MeeGo under 1% each, while Android’s share is nearly 50%.