Jolla Promotes Community Growth With Android Launcher And Installable Sailfish OS

While Jolla has released their own handset, the main product is the mobile operating system, Sailfish OS. The Jolla handset gives the Finnish company a platform to show off the OS in an optimised environment, but  the 400 euro price-tag does raise a rather large financial barrier for the early adopter crowd. That’s why the news regarding produce for Android handsets, released ahead of Monday’s Mobile World Congress event, is intriguing.By making the Sailfish OS available for free to install on other Android handsets, Jolla will be able to increase the user base and gain more feedback on the OS. Jolla already has a number of early adopters contributing to the code, and the addition of a downloadable and bootable version of the OS will bring in more power-users looking for something different.It’s a similar strategy to Cyanogen Mod - leverage the existing Android hardware to your own OS and expand the number of instances in use to gather test data and the visibility of the new platform.Jolla is taking this one step further with the release of an Android launcher. Taking advantage of the open nature of Android, Jolla’s take on a mobile user interface will be ported as an Android app for anyone to download and experience the Finnish implementation of a mobile UI on top of a native Android handset. Given Sailfish OS can support the running of Android apps on native hardware, anyone comfortable in the launcher’s UI should feel more comfortable when considering a Sailfish OS powered handset in the future. From the press release:

"The Sailfish community has already ported Sailfish OS into several devices including major versions of popular Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, and Sony Xperia. Also, porting for highly popular Chinese Xiaomi products is under work in community projects. In addition, Jolla is releasing its own Sailfish user interface launcher as an Android application, which can be used to simulate the Sailfish OS experience on Android devices. The app will be available for download in the near future from Jolla.com and from common Android market places".

Jolla is a very small company (with 150 or so staff) and that means resources such as developer hours are precious and need to be used effectively. The community that has built up around this Finnish company is a vital part of a strategy to improve the operating system, evangelise their vision, and promote the platform. Providing the OS as an alternative for Android hackers, and a ‘safe to use’ replacement UI for power-users, allows Jolla to talk to the existing Android base about the plans for mobile computing over the next few years.It’s likely the some of them will consider a Sailfish OS device when their mobile contracts come up for renewal, and no doubt many of them will provide feedback to Jolla on the OS and the UI. That lowers the user acquisition cost for Jolla and provides more data points from testing. When you are starting from a small user base, keeping these costs low is one of the keys to managing the limited funds available.At each step of the process, Jolla continue to delight me with a user-focused approach to improving their open operating system. They are increasing the reach of the platform and who can be involved, improving the capability of the OS and making a smarter mobile OS step by step.The Android launcher and Sailfish OS distribution for the compatible handsets will be released during the first half of 2014.

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Android users will get to install Jolla’s rival Sailfish OS, bit by bit

Jolla’s Sailfish OS isn’t Android – not even an Amazon-style fork – but it can run Android apps and manufacturers can put it on the same hardware they use for Android devices. So after a pretty small-scale start, what would be the smart way for the plucky Finnish mobile upstart to make sure as many people as possible play with its software?

Yup. On Friday, Jolla announced the first complete version of Sailfish OS and said users themselves would later this year be able to install it on many Android devices – according to the post-Nokia outfit, this will include “major versions of popular Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, and Sony Xperia .” In the meantime, Jolla will soon put a Sailfish launcher into “common Android marketplaces”, so people can get their heads around the operating system’s gesture-based user interface.

All this will take place during the first half of this year, Jolla said, noting that the full Sailfish OS should be “commercially ready for global distribution” after the beginning of March, when Sailfish OS receives its fourth significant update.The company also revealed partnerships with other big hitters from Finland: Rovio, for an Angry Birds-themed “The Other Half” smart cover, and security firm F-Secure, for free cloud storage. Jolla will also work with Finnish IT consultancy Tieto to offer integration services to manufacturers that want to make Sailfish OS phones.

According to Jolla COO and co-founder Marc Dillon:

“We’ve been working hard together with our user community to make the user experience of the Jolla smartphone and Sailfish OS effortless and distinct. We believe that Jolla now offers a truly viable option for all smartphone users. Naturally we are not stopping here, as we continue to provide monthly software updates to Jolla devices and Sailfish OS.”

Sailfish OS users will be able to install “their preferred Android app store”, Dillon added. Jolla has previously announced a partnership with Yandex to see the Russian web giant’s Android app store preinstalled on Jolla devices — as for the official Google Play Store, a Jolla spokesman told me that “technically it is possible to download it to the Jolla smartphone, but we don’t have any agreements in place currently with Google.” Sailfish OS is open source, and the community has already made native apps for Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Foursquare.How likely is it that Android users will go Sailfish? Jolla is hopeful: chairman Antti Saarnio said in Friday’s statement that there are about a billion Android users out there. “Last year in China alone, about 100 million devices were re-flashed after the purchase with a new operating system. This approach allows Sailfish OS to scale into volume fast without limitations,” he noted.

“Just in a few months [since launch, presumably] we have shown how fast an open operating system can develop compared to closed ecosystems,” Saarnio continued. “It’s time for free choice instead of closed walled gardens.”

This article was updated at 3.30am PT to include extra detail about the possibility of using the Google Play Store on a Jolla phone.

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Jolla readies Sailfish OS for Android in a bid for Chinese firmware flashers

Finnish smartphone maker Jolla says its Sailfish OS has exited beta and will soon be available to install on Android devices.Jolla has been selling its devices in Europe for a few months now, but today the young company outlined how it will get its operating system to more remote markets without the help of carriers and OEMs.So far, there have been three main parts to Jolla's plan: the device, the Sailfish operating system, and the Sailfish alliance. Last November it started selling its Jolla smartphone, which carried its beta OS, and was available for purchase in Europe.Not so much appears to have happened yet on the alliance front — other than in Finland with carrier DNA — since it signed up Chinese retailer D.Phone as a partner in 2012. Jolla hoped the alliance would attract OEMs, carriers and others to extend the OS to the giant Chinese market.However, today Jolla said it will soon open online sales in Russia, India and Hong Kong. It's negotiating new channels in main European markets, the company said, presumably referring to retail or carrier partners.Jolla also has a fourth and fifth component to its plan, announcing that from March version 1.0 of its OS will be available to install on Android devices. Jolla says the Sailfish community has already ported the OS to some Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, and Sony Xperia devices, while a port for popular Xiaomi handset is in the works.The move is similar to Ubuntu making the developer preview of its OS available for Nexus devices, except Jolla's will be a full commerical release. Jolla's move has parallels to how Android users can install custom ROMs, such as CyanogenMod, on to their devices, although the ROMs are actually based on Android Open Source Project builds.Still, Jolla is hoping the popularity of re-flashing Android devices with custom ROMs will benefit it, particularly in China.

"Last year in China alone, about 100 million devices were re-flashed after the purchase with a new operating system. This approach allows Sailfish OS to scale into volume fast without limitations. This is a scaling opportunity in a similar way as we have seen in the mobile gaming industry recently," Antti Saarnio, chairman of Jolla's board said.

The fifth leg in its plan is a new Sailfish app launcher for Android devices, which will "simulate the Sailfish OS experience on Android devices", according to Jolla. That puts it on par with the dozens of app launchers available on Google Play, which offer different ways of presenting and organising apps on the home screen.While Jolla device owners can't install Android apps from Google Play, there's no reason why Jolla couldn’t put its own app launcher there, though Jolla only says that it will be available in the near future from jolla.com and "common Android market places". 

"We see this as a huge volume opportunity for Sailfish OS as there are close to a billion Android users globally. Many of them are looking for new user experiences to freshen up their existing devices," said Saarnio.In any case, the app launcher carrying the Sailfish UI will be made available ahead of Sailfish OS ports for different hardware, which will be released in phases during the first half of 2014. Good news may be on the way for current owners of the Jolla device, especially if they've noticed stability issues with some of the apps.

Its fourth software update to released at the beginning of March will included "improved performance, extended landscape support, lots of visual improvements, lots of new camera functionalities, enhancements to the Jolla store, new general settings" and other fixes. 

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Android users will get to install Jolla’s rival Sailfish OS, bit by bit

The operating system will run on some devices in the Nexus, Samsung Galaxy and Sony Xperia lines, and before that comes out a Sailfish launcher will be made available so users can get used to the UI. Jolla’s Sailfish OS isn’t Android – not even an Amazon-style fork – but it can run Android apps and manufacturers can put it on the same hardware they use for Android devices. So after a pretty small-scale start, what would be the smart way for the plucky Finnish mobile upstart to make sure as many people as possible play with its software?Yup. On Friday, Jolla announced the first complete version of Sailfish OS and said users themselves would later this year be able to install it on many Android devices – according to the post-Nokia outfit, this will include “major versions of popular Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, and Sony Xperia .” In the meantime, Jolla will soon put a Sailfish launcher into “common Android marketplaces”, so people can get their heads around the operating system’s gesture-based user interface.All this will take place during the first half of this year, Jolla said, noting that the full Sailfish OS should be “commercially ready for global distribution” after the beginning of March, when Sailfish OS receives its fourth significant update.The company also revealed partnerships with other big hitters from Finland: Rovio, for an Angry Birds-themed “The Other Half” smart cover, and security firm F-Secure, for free cloud storage. Jolla will also work with Finnish IT consultancy Tieto to offer integration services to manufacturers that want to make Sailfish OS phones.

According to Jolla COO and co-founder Marc Dillon:

“We’ve been working hard together with our user community to make the user experience of the Jolla smartphone and Sailfish OS effortless and distinct. We believe that Jolla now offers a truly viable option for all smartphone users. Naturally we are not stopping here, as we continue to provide monthly software updates to Jolla devices and Sailfish OS.”

Sailfish OS users will be able to install “their preferred Android app store”, Dillon added – I’m guessing the official Google Play Store isn’t an option, but Jolla has previously announced a partnership with Yandex to see the Russian web giant’s Android app store preinstalled on Jolla devices. Sailfish OS is open source, and the community has already made native apps for Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Foursquare.How likely is it that Android users will go Sailfish? Jolla is hopeful: chairman Antti Saarnio said in Friday’s statement that there are about a billion Android users out there. “Last year in China alone, about 100 million devices were re-flashed after the purchase with a new operating system. This approach allows Sailfish OS to scale into volume fast without limitations,” he noted.

“Just in a few months [since launch, presumably] we have shown how fast an open operating system can develop compared to closed ecosystems,” Saarnio continued. “It’s time for free choice instead of closed walled gardens.”

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