Samsung Electronics plans to release an ultra-low-price smartphone “Tizen Phone” (model named“Z1”)which will be available at the price of less than 100,000 won, targeting the budget phone market which is now dominated by a group of Chinese companies, including Xiaomi.
This move is part of Samsung’s marketing strategy to boost its share in the smartphone market even if it hurts its profitability.Samsung also hopes to solidify its presence in the global content market by supplying the smartphones which are mounted with Samsung’s own operating system Tizen.
A Samsung official said,“We decided to release the Tizen phone in India on January 18, 2015. The price of the phone is set at less than 100,000 won.” The company plans to sell the Tizen phone through online shopping malls and existing sales networks, instead of staging separate marketing efforts.
Samsung intends to release Tizen smartphones in China in February 2015 and in Korea within the first half of next year.
Source: The Korea Economic Daily
