Jolla promises MeeGo will live on, plans new smartphone to reward the faithful
More than a few N9 aficionados felt their hearts sink when important MeeGo team members left Nokia this week, putting the fate of the entire swipe-friendly platform in doubt. Recently-founded Jolla was clearly watching, as it confirmed just in the nick of time that it's planning to carry the torch further. The Finnish startup, which includes important members of the N9 team as well as veterans of the unofficial MeeGo community, not only plans to iterate on MeeGo but to build its very own smartphone with that foundation. Those attached to Nokia's interpretation of MeeGo will have to adapt to a few changes: Jolla's work is based on the related, partly HTML5-driven Mer Project and will have a "brand new UI" to go with the new hardware. It won't be a literal N10 as a result, but we'll find out just what direction Jolla is taking soon -- it's been working on the phone since late 2011 with plans to show its work later this year. As long as some of the N9's spirit carries forward, we have a hunch that a lot of fans won't mind the absence of a Nokia badge.
Show full PR text
MeeGo Smartphones and Operating System Find a New Life in Jolla Ltd.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jolla Ltd. is an independent Finland based smartphone product company which continues the excellent work that Nokia started with MeeGo. The Jolla team is formed by directors and core professionals from Nokia's MeeGo N9 organisation, together with some of the best minds working on MeeGo in the communities.
Jussi Hurmola, CEO Jolla Ltd.: "Nokia created something wonderful - the world's best smartphone product. It deserves to be continued, and we will do that together with all the bright and gifted people contributing to the MeeGo success story."
Jolla Ltd. will design, develop and sell new MeeGo based smartphones. Together with international private investors and partners, a new smartphone using this MeeGo based OS will be revealed later this year.
Jolla Ltd. has been developing a new smartphone product and the OS since the end of 2011. The OS has evolved from MeeGo OS using Mer Core and Qt with Jolla technology including its own brand new UI.
The Jolla team consists of a substantial number of MeeGo's core engineers and directors, and is aggressively hiring the top MeeGo and Linux talent to contribute to the next generation smartphone production. Company is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland and has an R&D office in Tampere, Finland.
Sincerely,
Jolla Ltd.
Dr. Antti Saarnio - Chairman & Finance
Mr. Jussi Hurmola - CEO
Mr. Sami Pienimäki - VP, Sales & Business Development
Mr. Stefano Mosconi - CIO
Mr. Marc Dillon - COO
