As one of the leaders of both the entertainment and social networking industries in China, Tencent is in an excellent position to become a leader in smart technology as well. Rather than releasing its own devices, however, the company has decided to take the Google route and release a new operating system that will power third-party devices. Known as TOS+, this Android-based operating system will power all kinds of smart devices, from television to wearables.
China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd launched on Tuesday an operating system for internet-connected devices such as TVs and watches that is open to all developers, taking on domestic rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Xiaomi Inc in the smart hardware space. Tencent Operating System (OS) and TOS+ allow manufacturers and developers to freely use the platform if they agree to share revenue. This model mirrors Google Inc’s Android mobile OS, and could help Tencent replicate the U.S. firm’s conquest of the majority of the world’s smartphones. Tencent is the dominant social networking and online entertainment company in China, and the success of its OS would deepen its control over users’ screens. Tencent’s WeChat mobile messaging app is the most widely used for communication, and is also popular for shopping, gaming and other mobile services such as hailing a taxi. “We want to inject more content into smart hardware systems and have connectivity across different terminals,” Zhong Xiangping, head of TOS+, told the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing.
