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Jolla's reportedly launching a handset with 'Scandinavian design' next month
This year's Mobile World Congress was a rather meaningful one for Jolla, what with the launch of its Sailfish OS SDK. But what's an operating system without a proper fixture, right? To wit, DigiToday is reporting that the team of ex-MeeGo engineers is getting ready to debut its first hardware early next month -- a handset emblematic of a "modern Scandinavian design," according to Jolla Chairman Antti Saarnio. Further, the Finnish news site says Jolla's taking a cue from the recent crowd-funded craze: it's prepping limited edition versions of the device for early adopters. Naturally, we'll have to wait for something more concrete, but with May just around the corner, it shouldn't be too long before we can finally see what Jolla has in store for us.
Jolla won't officially support Sailfish on the Nokia N9, suggests the community tries it anyway
Nokia N9 champions may be looking hopefully at Sailfish to revive their beloved MeeGo, but Jolla has reigned in those expectations by saying it won't be officially supporting the device. Although the company won't be responsible for updates or providing technical help, it claims there's nothing but a voided warranty stopping the community from porting Sailfish to the abandoned handset. So, N9 owners, it's up to you -- if you want the MeeGo-based OS on your phone, you'll need to do a bit of work for it.
Jolla's Marc Dillon takes over as CEO, Jussi Hurmola to focus on Sailfish
Following big news from Jolla almost two weeks ago, it's reluctant to go quiet, instead taking to Twitter to announce that Jussi Hurmola is no longer its CEO. This isn't a story of scandal or corporate dissent, but merely a restructuring to allow Hurmola to focus on Sailfish, the MeeGo-based OS currently in development. It's no great surprise that Marc Dillon is stepping up to be the new big cheese -- he's another of the company's founders and was acting COO prior to the shuffle. Sailfish is due to be demoed for the first time in a little over a month, where we imagine Hurmola will be eager to flaunt its progress now that he's managed to palm off all that paperwork.
Jolla resuscitates MeeGo with 'Sailfish' OS, plans to show off new device this November
If competition breeds innovation, then there's plenty promise in this latest mobile development from Jolla. The Finnish company, comprised of former Nokia employees, is poised to enter yet another combatant to the wireless arena with a MeeGo-based OS, codenamed "Sailfish," as early as this November. According to The Wall Street Journal, an initial round of funding has raised €200 million to push the effort forward and the small start-up is investing €10 million of its own to bolster the platform's prospects. Having been recently abandoned by Elop and co. after the arrival of the N9, this iteration of the operating system will continue to be open source and should pave the way for OEM adoption, although certain aspects of the UI will be licensed. According to CEO Jussi Hurmola, the new hardware's expected to hit next month -- just in time for a glut of other smartphone bows. Until then, we'll reserve our judgment and hope for the best.
Mobile Miscellany: week of August 20th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week was a bit slow, but we've managed to dig up a couple interesting MeeGo tidbits, along with an excellent utility for Nexus 7 / OS X users -- something to help you in the pursuit of slack. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of August 20th, 2012.
Jolla signs deal to bring future MeeGo handsets to Chinese retailer D.Phone
With only vague plans for two new Meego smartphones and a loose commitment from Nokia in its pocket, nervy startup Jolla went ahead and signed its first sales channel -- Chinese retailer D.Phone. The company made the announcement by Twitter, since it doesn't even have a website yet, calling itself a "rising smartphone product company," and saying that it will use D.Phone's 2,000 stores to sell the as-yet nonexistent handsets to Chinese consumers. It also confirmed that the first device would launch later this year featuring a fresh version of MeeGo, though the company didn't discuss dates or any new features that the new OS version might pack. For a mobile platform that was on death's door, it may have just been gifted a possible reprieve -- provided Jolla can build phones to match its ambitious plans.
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.
