BARCELONA, Spain — Infraware, a Korean software developer and creator of the Polaris Office suite for mobile devices, is showing off how easy it is to convert Android apps to Tizen OS at the Smart Content Korea booth here at Mobile World Congress.
With a simple click, the Polaris App Generator software is able to wrap an Android APK and convert it to a Tizen OS executable file. This means developers don’t have to pour additional resources into manually porting their apps.
Young Moon, manager of Infraware’s global business development division, said that the PAG software basically adds a standalone Dalvik runtime to the compiled code, allowing it to run in Tizen OS without any special tweaks.
However, this service isn’t free. Infraware is charging developers $5,000 an app, but will provide support for two years — Moon considers that the shelf life of most apps. The huge fee also helps to deter pirates from ripping off apps and putting them on Tizen.
Sadly, while this service is all ready to go, there are no Tizen smartphones yet. Moon sounded a little frustrated at the delay but said his company will be switching focus and looking at other devices running Tizen OS, such as smart TVs.