Samsung chose the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona, Spain, this week to introduce its second-generation Gear smartwatches. It launched two models, the Gear 2 (with camera) and the Gear 2 Neo (without camera). Both have a pedometer, heart-rate sensor, and various tools to measure exercise, sleep and stress levels. Fitness is clearly what Samsung believes to be a killer app for its wearables.

Interestingly, both new Gear models use the Tizen OS, and NOT the leading Android platform. That has long been rumored, but it is still a big gamble by Samsung. Whether Tizen can ever attract the same depth and quality of apps compared to Apple's App Store and Google Play remains to be seen.

More analysis of Samsung's smartwatch and wearables strategy can be viewed by clients of our Wearable Device Ecosystems (WDE) service here.