Developers can now get their hands on both the source code and SDK of Tizen version 2.0, also known as Magnolia, with creators claiming it features a number of enhancements over the 2.0 alpha released in September 2012.

The Technical Steering Group – a governing group for Tizen comprising Intel and Samsung – has described this as a "major milestone" in the operating system's development and invited developers to download the latest release.

New features include additional Tizen device APIs for Bluetooth and NFC support, a new native framework and an enhanced web framework to deliver "state-of-the-art" HTML5/W3C API support.

Mike Tizen

The announcement is a significant one for developers and OEMs alike, particularly Samsung.

The Korean giant is looking for a way to decrease its reliance on Android, after all, and has already committed to bring Tizen smartphones to market in 2013.

"We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on market conditions," explained a Samsung representative to Bloomberg Businessweek last month.

As such, the forthcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona might just see Samsung unveil the Tizen hardware it's working on for the very first time.

Whether other hardware manufacturers will follow suit in supporting the Linux-based OS remains to be seen.

[source: Tizen]