According to reports, Ministry of Knowledge Economy deputy minister Kim Jae-hong Monday said his government planned to create Web-centric operating systems first for PCs and laptops, and then for smartphones and tablets."We will forge ahead in developing a new kind of operating system, which is being seen as a next-generation product, in order to build the kind of advantage we do not enjoy in the market for smartphones and tablet PCs, which is dominated by Google and Apple," Kim said, according to the publication The Chosun Ibo.
Reportedly, Samsung, a successful maker of handsets featuring Google's Android OS, may have been swayed to join the national effort after Google announced its plan to acquire Motorola Mobility, one of the Korean company's competitors.
Google said its purchase of Motorola Mobility, with includes the company's approximately 24,000 patents either awarded or pending, would be used to protect manufacturers of Android devices, like Samsung and LG. For now, many of the Android handset makers are at least publicly supporting the move.
But there is concern Google may in time give preference to Android updates and development through Motorola, or even strike out on its own as a hardware manufacturer.
"We cannot completely rule out the possibility of Google jumping into the smartphone business in the future," said Kim, alluding to the possibility that Google intends to emulate Apple's model and have Motorola develop official Google phones.
Additionally, Samsung may be motivated to jump on board in light of the company's ongoing and increasingly escalating legal battles with iOS-maker Apple, which number more than a dozen separate cases in nine countries.
For its part, Apple may welcome a Korean-based OS, since Asian handset makers on their own OS may weaken rival Google's market share, which is strong in Asia overall.
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