Report: Wearables Straining Google-Samsung Relationship

The relationship between long-time buddies Google (GOOG) and Samsung reportedly is continuing to show deepening cracks, this time over wearables.

A report in The Information claims that Google chief Larry Page and Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee went at it in a “tense private meeting” at the recent Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The report, based on three sources, said Page wasn’t happy with Samsung’s interest in smart watches running the Tizen open source operating system rather than Google’s Android Wear platform.

Talks between the two executives focused on what was described as their “contentious” smartphone relationship, extending to Samsung’ development of apps similar to those already baked into Android. Samsung recently renovated and rebranded its mobile apps store, adding hundreds of new apps exclusive to its Galaxy mobile devices in a move seemingly aimed at landing Google Play customers.

Samsung’s strategy to deliver Tizen-based smartphones to offset its reliance on Android has been well-chronicled. Its Gear 2, Gear Neo and Gear Fit smartwatches all run the Tizen OS, while its Gear Live is the vendor’s only Android-based wearable.

Google’s Page reportedly pressured Samsung to deploy Android Wear on its smart watches rather than Tizen owing to the Wear platform’s integration with other Android-based devices. Apparently, some choice words were thrown around at the meeting, with Samsung describing Google as a “bully” and miffed at Android chief Sundar Pinchai’s willingness to walk away from the relationship.

Pinchai recently told Wired magazine that he has a “very good relationship with [co-CEO] J.K.Shin and so I cherish that,” adding, “A lot gets said about the relationship, but the reality is the teams work incredibly hard and incredibly close together on a daily basis.”

Some 250 of the wealthiest and most powerful executives in media, finance, politics and technology attended the Allen event starting on July 8. The who’s who IT attendee list included Yahoo (YHOO) chief Marissa Mayer, Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) chief Meg Whitman, Facebook (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Page, Apple (AAPL) boss Tim Cook and Amazon (AMZN) honcho Jeff Bezos.