Financial problems for Jolla ltd

Discuss The Industry
1

According to this official press release http://jolla.com/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/Jolla_press_release_20112015_FINAL_61.pdf (early next week there will be an explanation on their blog) Jolla lts are in a bad situation; for me this is very sad, I hope they will pass this bad moment without bad consequences, and I hope that the porting of Sailfish OS to Fairphone 2 can help at least a bit the survival of the company, because it’s a very good and mature system, long better than android but sadly not so supported because not owned by a mega corp.

Good luck Jolla ltd, I’m with you

6 Likes
2


Interview with Antii Saaarnio

2 Likes
3

TLDR: they will stop making hardware but continue to develop and support software.

Tired of waiting for an open-source Fairphone 2, I bought a Jolla phone at a reduced half price:
http://shop.jolla.com/eu_en/cat-jolla/jolla-1.html

2 Likes
4

Ah that’s why Antti Saarnio tweeted this:

2 Likes
5

Here an update about the situation from the Jolla CEO: https://blog.jolla.com/open-letter-jolla-community/

1 Like
6

They did a public call for solutions, so I suggested the following:

Double down as a software vendor. Partner with FairPhone to deliver a “FairPhone Sailfish” as an alternative flavour to their “FairPhone Android” (for now known just as FairPhone).

5 Likes
7

Some interesting news… not all is lost! http://reviewjolla.blogspot.co.at/2015/12/news-update-debts-on-hold-at-jolla.html?m=1

2 Likes
8

Apparently Jolla is back in business:

https://twitter.com/JollaHQ/status/677862450520166400

6 Likes
9

Very good news, I hope that there will be soon an official porting of Sailfish OS on Fairphone 2!

1 Like
10

Doesn’t look too bad about Jolla here: https://blog.jolla.com/jolla-back-business/

1 Like
11

It says here that concerning the tablet business only a few more of their tablets are going to be delivered which must be pretty tough for all those who already paid for it since it’s not clear if they’re gonna get a refund. But it seems they’re focusing their energy more on Sailfish OS this coming year. Let’s hope for the best…

1 Like
12

And here goes a mini-review.

TL;DR Jolla is good looking but not nice to use

Pros:

  • Lovely graphics (though not very consistent)
  • Lovely (few) sounds
  • Mostly open source
  • Runs Android apps natively
  • No crashes yet
  • Good battery life (when apps are closed)
  • Nice clock/alarm app
  • They are “different”

Cons:

  • Gestures not intuitive
  • Not fully open source
  • No app permissions
  • Few customization options
  • Few ways to transfer contacts
  • Web browser is very slow
  • Builtin apps are raw
  • They are “different”

What’s up with social/open companies producing mediocre products? :disappointed:
With more usability, a little security and less fancy Sailfish OS could have been a winner.

13

Looking at your cons, I find this hard to understand. These issues:

  • Gestures not intuitive
  • Builtin apps are raw
  • They are “different”

are related to the fact that they are not a walled garden. The problem is, if you want quality quickly, you have to allow people to make a lot of money quickly using a easy to use framework that protects them and you. To do this, you protect their work by all means so they get all the money (Walled garden, Toolkit/API, DRM). So you end up with these issues:

  • Gestures not intuitive (else you get sued)
  • Not fully open source (else you get sued)
  • Builtin apps are raw (you need someone to write them for free first)

People work for money … there is not so much money to be made in social/open companies. Often they are not even “companies” at all. It’s just one or two people using a lot of their free time. So this leaves us with:

  • Web browser is very slow
  • No app permissions

No bad for a nearly bankrupt company I would say :wink: But I agree these two suck.

3 Likes