Jolla Mobile Set To Launch Its Sailfish OS Today, Signs Deal with Finnish Telco 74
New submitter zzats writes "The Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Jolla, started by ex-Nokia Meego engineers, is showing it's Linux-based Sailfish OS for the public for the first time today. The first keynote speech aired at 9:15 GMT, with an UI-focused presentation starting later, 15:00 GMT. In addition to using the OS on their own devices, Jolla is planning to license it to third party manufacturers. The company has previously stated their initial focus for creating an ecosystem is in the Chinese market."
sfcrazy adds: "Jolla has signed a deal with Finland's 3rd largest mobile operator DNA to market the MeeGo based smartphones in the Finnish market."
No bastard child (Score:5, Informative)
To me it seems more like the disowned firstborn from Meego-Harmattan.
It looks fabulous! :) (Score:4, Informative)
We don't care for cricket scores in Walkaboutmissiquanga or rioting in a village deep inside the African Congo anymore than we do about this !!
Not sure why not. I'm personally a little tired of the Media desperately pushing the lie of the "third ecosystem", and trying to pretend the destruction of Nokia by Elop; Microsoft; The shareholders byvarious fanatics and paid shills around the net that Windows Phone is sensible rational choice, and throwing good money after bad is a great thing, when lets face it its simply not that good, in fact its awful. I'm also tired of the the Smartphone market becoming the Android market. Its a great product, and continues to be, but its a one horse race, with Apple unashamedly chasing profit over market share, making the same mistake as the PC market [or success if your an Apple fanatic]
This is the first OS I've seen that has made sense; I could see myself buying. It could be a great product, potentially an even more open OS in the market; Android compatibility; multitasking done right. [and I miss that from Meamo]. Its done by professionals; the underdog; those pushed aside for Elops vision...its a true underdog story. Personally I hope the Finish are flag waving, and pushing the the Government into offering Jolla real support. The only thing that might stop me caring...is BB10, but I'm not holding my breath.
Re:Another closed, proprietory garden... (Score:3, Informative)
Only Jolla GUI is closed source I guess - if the rest is open source and the userland is 'linux like' thats enough for me.
Re:The bastard child of Windows Phone and Android. (Score:5, Informative)
Can you provide a link ?
http://www.phonedog.com/2012/11/21/jolla-demos-meego-based-sailfish-os-on-video/ [phonedog.com] has both the promo video, and more importantly a demonstration video which is very short and covers the main features.
Re:Will it be open? (Score:5, Informative)
https://sailfishos.org/wiki/QA [sailfishos.org]
Will Sailfish SDK be available for Linux and Windows?
Yes Sailfish SDK is based on QtCreator and will be available in Windows, Linux and OSX.
When will Sailfish SDK be available?
The version presented at Slush will be available very soon. In the meantime you can follow the steps on the merproject.org page and build most of the SDK yourself.
Will you support HTML5?
Yes we are studying Cordova Qt which is an open source version of PhoneGap.
Will you support DRM
No.
What APIs (application programming interface) will Jolla / Sailfish provide from device platform?
Qt APIs (QtQuick, QtMobility, QtWebkit and more) should be used by typical Sailfish OS applications. Also standard Linux APIs within reason for mobile usage will be available.
Do you use in-house patched Qt version with Jolla specific modifications?
We use the fully open version of Qt delivered by Mer; like many distributions this carries small patches to fix bugs, enhance performance or backport features. Mer tracks upstream Qt very closely.
What is the relationship of Sailfish OS and Nemo Mobile project?
We are using parts of Nemo Mobile in Sailfish OS. Specifically Nemo Mobile has a UI and a set of applications that we won't use in the final Jolla product nor in Sailfish OS. We are contributing to Nemo Mobile and our intention is to keep Sailfish OS compatible with Nemo Mobile and vice versa.
Will you have a developer program and if, what are the benefits for a developer?
We will disclose more information regarding this during next year.
What is your open source contribution model?
Sailfish OS is based on Mer and Qt which are already existing and known open-source projects with good contribution policies.
What do the Android app developers need to do get their apps run on Jolla devices / devices based on the Sailfish OS?
Many Android(TM) applications will run on Jolla devices unchanged (Android is a trademark of Google Inc.). If you want to take advantage of all UI and other features of Sailfish OS and make your applications fast, you can port your applications to native QT/QML. There are extensive guides available on how to do that.
What does Sailfish OS have on top of Mer?
Mer provides a functional core Linux stack that boots up to the screen. Mer does not provide HW adaptation nor a functional UI. There is where Sailfish fills the gap and provide you with a productized mobile OS.
Re:It looks fabulous! :) (Score:4, Informative)
Isn't Android compatibility a death sentence for an OS because of Google's blackmail of the Android OEMs?.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyun_OS [wikipedia.org]
"According to Google, Aliyun is a forked but incompatible version of its open-source Android operating system. The company therefore attempted to prevent Acer Inc. from shipping an Aliyun-powered phone, arguing that Acer, a member of the Open Handset Alliance, had agreed not to produce phones running incompatible Android versions.[4][5] Alibaba disputes the claim that Aliyun is a version of Android;[6] however, the Aliyun app store does prominently feature pirated Android applications, including many from Google.[7]"
So the Meego-forked based OS is good to go. In fact "Tizen" by Samsung shares the very same lineage.
Re:The bastard child of Windows Phone and Android. (Score:5, Informative)
Interestingly in the second video I saw the Android logo (the green robot) flash by :-)
That is because of its Android Application compatibility.