Samsung has confirmed that it’s working on Tizen-based smart TVs

Global tech giant Samsung Electronics. Co. said Sunday it will unveil its SDK for the Tizen OS-based TVs, which can allow software developers to easily make new applications critical for improving user experience. The kit, to be showcased at the three-day-long Tizen developer conference that kicks off in San Francisco on Monday, will permit programmers to make applications compatible for use on TVs running on Tizen OS. Tizen is an open source operating system, similar to Google’s Android, and is being promoted by Samsung, Intel, Huawei, KT, SK Telecom, NTT Docomo, and Panasonic. Samsung has played a leading role in the development of Tizen, which has been used on some of its latest wearables such as its Gear smart watches.

Samsung is ramping up its preparations to release products based on the new Tizen operating system after it announced plans to introduce an SDK (software development kit) for smart TV products from next month. The Korean company has already shipped devices built on the Linux-based operating system — its Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches — and the release of the beta of the Samsung TV SDK will give developers the chance to get hands-on with the software. Samsung says the beta includes a Smart Interaction feature, which allows hand gesture- and voice-based commands, and multi-screen options for linking up with mobiles and wearable device — though did not say when the TVs would go on sale to consumers. The Wall Street Journal last month reported that Samsung was preparing to launch its first Tizen smartphones in Russia and India, while also hinting a smart TV product was in the pipeline. Those mobile devices are yet to arrive, but today’s news is confirmation that Samsung is at least planning Tizen smart TVs — the company aborted planned Tizen smartphone launches last year, so there’s no guarantee these TVs will arrive for sure.