This week Samsung announced the release of its mid-grade Tizen smartphone for just $90 in India. Wait, go back a second, what's a Tizen? At first glance I thought that was the name of the smartphone, which is actually called the Z1. Tizen is an open source operating system backed by Samsung, Intel, and others, that the company has been developing for three years in efforts to reduce its reliance on Google's Android (WSJ). After a lot of ups and downs with getting the device launched (including a failed launch in Russia, France, and Japan in 2014), Samsung finally decided to take a chance against a market increasingly dominated by Google and Apple.

The smartphone, with initial release in India, could work as a first-time device for a lot of customers. It's cheap, and has, well, enough, specs to make it worth the $90. Under a 4-inch 480 x 800 pixel screen lies a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 768 MB RAM ( I know, not much), 4GB of on-device storage, and an extra 64GB with micro SD. It runs Tizen 2.3, supports dual SIMS, has a 3.1 rear-facing camera, and front-facing VGA with face detection software (PC World). Finally, a 1500mAH battery will keep the Z1 powered between 7-8 hours.

Samsung hopes to see success with the Z1, but real competition lies among Android, its biggest competitor in India. If Tizen catches on, its launch will only help the operating system, which is already powering a number of other electronic devices, such as smartwatches and TVs, become more popular. Still, Tizen's following in the smartphone market will be the most important model for success, as these devices are still seen as the most important consumer-electronic in the industry because of the immense profit the drive. It is unknown when we will see Z1 hit western markets.