Samsung meanwhile is supporting the development of the Tizen OS for mobile phones, an HTML 5 based open source project that will shift the balance of power in mobility away from the device app store to the networks, a move that looks set to be the next disruption in smartphones.
It doesn't have the big names attached to it like Firefox OS and Tizen, but it feels a lot slicker to us.
But that time looks to be when they have the new OS, Tizen, nailed down, when they step aside from the specifications arms race and try to surpass Apple as an experience, in global and local partnerships that allow them to launch significant new services.
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Alongside the big four, we now have Ubuntu, Firefox OS and the latest version of Tizen all elbowing each other for room.
As Apple stalls, Samsung is pushing Tizen as an alternative to Android, which means the mobile OS and cross-platform advertising could shape up very differently by the end of 2013 than it did at the end of 2012, all of which means the time is now right for a supercharged ads platform.
Note: While Android is based on a Linux kernel, the goal behind Tizen seems to be an even more open-source, flexible OS designed to be user-friendly and carrier-friendly.
Tizen has one particularly strong backer, Samsung, who built the reference device we play with in the video after the break, and whereas Firefox OS is destined only for the low-end, Tizen seems far more ambitious -- at least judging from the 720p resolution of this developer handset.
Tizen gives them the opportunity to disrupt the market, shifting it away from OS apps stores, rather than just disrupting Google.
Having failed with its own OS, Bada, it is now a heavy proponent of the open source Tizen.
Tizen's mostly likely rival will be Ubuntu, at least once that other Linux-based OS progresses beyond entry-level phones at some point in 2014.
In fact, Firefox OS is one of a handful of other web-based mobile platforms launching this year, including Tizen from Samsung and Intel, Sailfish from Jolla and Ubuntu from Canonical (in 2014).
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