Momentum Grows For Alternative Phone System Tizen

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - The junior league of smartphone operating systems is getting more competitive. Phones from yet another contender - Tizen - will go on sale this year with a view to eventually playing with the industry leaders: Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

Tizen will rub shoulders with another newcomer, Firefox OS, as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone and a revamped BlackBerry operating system.

Tizen has a powerful backer in Samsung Electronics, which is ditching its own, homebrew operating system Bada in favor of Tizen. Samsung will also use Android.

Most of the impetus behind Tizen comes from cellphone carriers, which want a successful counterweight to the clout of Google and Android. Tizen phones will look and work much like Android phones. The first ones are expected in France this year.