South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it will stop developers' support for its "Bada" operating system starting in January, as the company accelerates its move to come up with a handset powered by its own Tizen operating system instead.

"We regret to inform you that the Bada Developers Forum will be closed in January 2015," Samsung said on its Bada website. The announcement came nearly two years after the company said it would stop releasing new editions of the Linux-based operating system.

Bada, which means ocean in Korean, had been one of Samsung's ambitious projects to take on other rivals' mobile operating systems -- Google Inc.'s Android and Apple Inc.'s iOS platforms.

The operating system, however, failed to expand the market presence amid the strong domination of the two U.S. giants.

Samsung, while emerging as the world's No. 1 maker of smartphones, has been suffering from lackluster performances in its contents and software sectors.

It also earlier said it will discontinue its messenger service ChatOn next year as it plans to build business capacity in other services.

Industry watchers said Samsung's growth engine now lies in the Tizen platform, as its presence in the traditional device market is falling amid the rise of Chinese players rolling out low-end smartphones.

Tizen is an open source operating system for smart devices being promoted by Samsung, Intel, Huawei and other global tech players. Samsung has been playing a leading role in the development of Tizen, which has been used in some of its wearables, such as Gear smartwatches.

"Samsung is facing challenges in leading the market as Chinese players have emerged as a threat in the smartphone and TV sectors," an industry watcher said. "The company's future now lies in the success of the Tizen platform."

Industry watchers said a Samsung Tizen handset may be launched in India in January at a price in the US$100-range, which could help the South Korean tech giant not only take the first meaningful step in the non-device sector but also expand sales of low-end models to battle with Chinese players. (Yonhap)