Jolla Sailfish OS – The good son of MeeGo

 Jolla has come a long way in a short time, having not only demonstrated its Sailfish operating system, but also successfully put its first smartphone up for pre-order, with a view to releasing it later this year. It’s not surprising, really. Jolla is a company built by forward-thinkers, many of whom were previously employed by Nokia, who left after MeeGo was dropped (the death of MeeGo also spawned Tizen). Sailfish is a similar beast to MeeGo, which could be both a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing because on the Nokia N9, MeeGo was much loved. Because of this, Jolla already has an established user base predisposed to adore Sailfish. However, MeeGo is known to others as a dead OS – a failure – and Sailfish could be dismissed because of it. Jolla is aware of these things, and therefore isn’t primarily targeting the fickle U.S. and UK, heading instead for China and other growth markets.So when’s it coming? Jolla is taking the bull by the horns and making its own phone. In fact, it’s the only OS maker here to do so. It promises its first phone will be out before the end of 2013, and will confirm the countries where it will be available closer to the time. The pre-order campaign is clever, too. Anyone in the world can pre-order the device, so Jolla can evaluate where demand is at its highest when the phone is ready. The first Jolla device will cost 400 euros, and it has a 4.5-inch display, a dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, and a rear panel which can perform all kinds of tricks. Provided, that app developers support it.
Sailfish OS looks really good in the early preview videos, but few tech reporters (or anyone) have been able to get hands-on time with it. We must approach it with trepidation, for now. Jolla is the outsider here, lacking the familiarity of Firefox and Ubuntu; but Jolla’s hippy, “Make love, not war” ethos and ties to MeeGo have definitely seen it attract what is sure to be a growing number of followers.

Positives:

• Built and run by a strong, dedicated team of experienced mobile industry players

• It has a built-in fan base crying about the death of MeeGo, all ready to embrace Sailfish

• Jolla already stands out as the “alternative” alternative, which ups its cool factor considerably

• Jolla is making its own phone, which is reasonably priced and should be on sale this year

• Sailfish looks good, and appears fun to use. It also runs Android apps, giving it a head start

Negatives:

• The Jolla name isn’t well known and ‘MeeGo’ has some unfortunate baggage

• Outside of Jolla, few people have tried the Sailfish OS

• The Jolla phone looks mid-range, and doesn’t come out until late 2013

• Jolla needs third party companies to build cool Other Half rear panels or the phone loses its best feature