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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Sailfish to invade Android devices first by launcher, then full firmware assault

There's a certain glamor to new mobile platforms that offer something different from established players, but nobody wants to spend hundreds on a new device just for a dabble. For those intrigued by the MeeGo-derived Sailfish OS specifically, Jolla hopes to lead you into temptation soon with a launcher for Android that mimics the Sailfish UI. Also during the first half of this year, Jolla plans to offer full firmware downloads for your handsets if you want to end it with Android altogether. The community around open-source Sailfish has successfully ported the OS to a number of devices, but we believe a formal and user-friendly method of distribution is what's being suggested here. We can picture the Jerry Springer episode already. The launcher was just a "friend," you see, until the firmware moved in and Android became but a homeless ROM. But... who's the father?

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Bored of Android and Apple? Sailfish version 1.0 is finally launched...

Jolla, the smartphone operating system developer founded by refugees from Nokia, has announced the release of 1.0 of its Sailfish operating system, which will be available worldwide in March.The release follows the sale of Jolla smartphones via Finnish mobile operator DNA, as well as direct to enthusiasts, in November last year. Those devices sported the beta version, which has been updated three times already - the fourth, in March, will represent the 1.0 version.Sailfish is based on Meego, a Linux-based operating system first developed within Nokia, but discarded in 2011 when CEO Stephen Elop chose to focus the company's smartphone resources on Microsoft Windows Phone.

"We're very excited to announce this. 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," said Marc Dillon, co-founder and chief operating office of Jolla.

Sailfish claims to be a "gesture-based mobile operating system" that supports both native Sailfish applications, as well as Android apps. 

"Customers are now able to install their preferred Android app store, and choose from hundreds of thousands of available Android applications. In addition, the active and passionate Sailfish OS community has already developed major social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Foursquare, natively to the Sailfish OS," said Dillon.

Jolla smartphones can be bought via the Jolla online shop for €399 and direct from Finnish operator DNA. The company expects to expand its sales channels this year, and is negotiating with partners in Russia, India and Hong Kong where Jolla will open online sales in the near future.Negotiations with retailers and operators in several European countries are also under way.

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Sailfish hits 1.0, to be released for Android devices

A major milestone for the young company. The fourth big update to Sailfish OS will be released early March, at which point the operating system leaves beta and hits 1.0. This fourth update will further improve landscape supports, include visual changes, new camera functionality, and more.On top of that, Sailfish will be made available for popular Android devices as well, so that you no longer need to buy a Jolla phone in order to use the operating system. Furthermore - and I did not see this one coming - they will release a Sailfish launcher for Android that brings some of the operating system's unique features to Android.

These men and women are on a roll.

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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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