BBC
A team of ex-Nokia employees has
released the first handset running on a new smartphone platform, BBC reported.
The Jolla phone - pronounced Yol-la
- is powered by open-source operating system Sailfish, but can run most apps
designed for Google's Android platform.
The company has paired with a major
Finnish network, and hopes to set up a similar deal with a UK operator.
Industry analysts said Jolla faced a
challenge in taking on a market dominated by Google and Apple.
Just 450 Jolla phones will be
available at launch on Wednesday evening, with the majority going to customers
who have pre-ordered the device.
Co-founder Marc Dillon told the BBC
the company was in the process of ramping up manufacturing.
He said the phone's ethos was to
provide a more "open" approach to how people used their mobiles, a
contrast to the relatively closed systems used on the iPhone and, to a lesser
extent, Android devices.
"There's different
opportunities for people to get apps form different places, different
stores," he said.
"We've created a world-class
platform. Users will be getting more choice."
This is the 'what might have been'
scenario had Nokia not gone down the Microsoft road with Windows Phone”
The platform - originally called
MeeGo - was developed by Nokia, but dumped in 2011 in favour of the company
adopting the Windows Phone system.
Nokia released just one handset
running the software, the N9-00.
Antti Saarnio, chairman and
co-founder of Jolla, told the BBC in May that MeeGo - now called Sailfish - had
not been given enough chance to succeed.
"Everybody felt so strongly
that they wanted to continue," he said.
Large parts of the Sailfish code
were open-source, which meant anyone could expand and adapt the platform, Mr
Dillon said.
"We are ramping up our Jolla
community right now.
"There's already a Sailfish
website so that developers can come and contribute."
David v Goliath
According to CCS Insight, 81% of
smartphones shipped globally from July to September ran Google's Android software.
Apple's iOS accounted for 13%.
Smaller players such as Blackberry,
Microsoft and Mozilla made up the numbers.
Analyst Geoff Blaber, from CCS, said
while it might seem Jolla was taking on an impossibly large challenge by trying
to muscle in, its strategy could pay off.
The smartphone has interchangeable
back panels that alter the phone's software
"It's easy to characterise this
as David v Goliath," he told the BBC. "But the fact is if Jolla can
maintain a competitive cost base, there is already an enthusiast base seeking
this product. It could be successful."
But Mr Blaber added the handset was
a means to an end, and that Jolla's long-term strategy was to create a
operating system it could licence to other manufacturers.
"This is the challenge,"
he said.
"At the moment we have a
situation where Android is utterly dominant. They've got to prove the software
is competitive and it works."
Jolla may also be buoyed by support
in its home country as a result of Microsoft's planned buy-out of Nokia.
Jolla co-founder Mr Dillion said he
was getting "stopped everywhere I go".
"We're not trying to
piggy-back, but we have seen a bump," said Mr Dillon. "We've had a
lot of support in Finland."
3Mr Blaber added: "This is the
'what might have been' scenario had Nokia not gone down the Microsoft road with
Windows Phone
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