Guest post by Stefano Mosconi (CTO of Jolla) gives a review of the past year, talking about decisions and developments in the company such as changing the SoC manufacturer for their first handset, switching to Wayland with Qt5 for Sailfish and opening their Web store and co-creation site.
The road was extremely tough and still we managed to deliver a product to the market in time. We focused on quality and stability rather than on number of features and we committed to our customers to listen to them and support the phone so it will remain valuable, relevant and well performing. We did this in about 100 guys and girls: we built an OS, an app store, a product, logistic and sales channels, online collaboration tool, SDK and developer intake.
No word in this post about being able to install the Sailfish OS on one’s own phone (like my Nexus 5) in 2014. This seems critical to expand Sailfish’s usage, especially in the US. Anyone know the status on this or a link for the project?
Edited 2014-01-13 15:42 UTC
https://together.jolla.com/question/4851/what-hardwaredevices-would-…
Thanks for the link but I not worried that when Sailfish is available to install on phones it won’t be able to install on a Nexus 5. What I really like to know is the status of the project… When will it be available (road map)? Is there alpha/beta builds available now?
Galaxy Nexus GT-i9250
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MQGd3XvmtCs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch~*…
Galaxy S2
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BMhxo6BCQAAzUwg.jpg
Nexus 7
http://www.jollausers.com/2013/12/nexus-7-running-sailfish-os-shown…
N9 and N950
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ii7k-OYM8
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Ggo1W39TrQM&desktop_u…
Don’t know about Nexus 5. Guess somebody who owns a Nexus 5 needs to compile and distribute it.
I know people have hacked Sailfish to run on some phones but that is not my question. Looking for an official method to install Sailfish on a supported phone from Jolla themselves.
For example, if one wanted to install Ubuntu Touch on their phone they would go here —> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch/Install#Supported_devices_and_codename…
I assume Jolla doesn’t have a resource like this yet as it has not been released for phones but… Anyone know of a Jolla forum or wiki where one can get the latest progress updates and/or road map for this?
Edited 2014-01-13 18:42 UTC
You’re looking for Jolla to officially support phones that they don’t manufacture, they don’t have access to their specs or drivers and which are produced by their competitors who most likely don’t want Sailfish on their phones?
Uh..
Edited 2014-01-13 18:49 UTC
Not exactly. A while ago Nemo project announced that they are going to provide a method to install Mer/Nemo on any device where CyanogenMod hardware adaptation exists (using libhybris). This in essence means that Sailfish can be installed there as well. Native hardware adaptations are almost non existent breed (I hope emergence of Intel chipsets will improve the situation, but that won’t happen until 2015 probably, since their current Tangier/Merrifield isn’t using Intel GPU, and rather ships a PowerVR, so forget about native drivers).
However, these instructions weren’t published to this day, and secondly there is no official way to install Sailfish so far, except a using a hack of “upgrading” from Nemo using Sailfish repositories.
I think the first part is the most critical, so those who want to figure out availability of such installation, should address the question to the Nemo project.
Edited 2014-01-13 20:11 UTC
I think the critical thing for the company is to make sure the OS is stable and fully functional on the shiny €400 phones that they have sold to people, you know, the people who are keeping Jolla in business and have the potential to sink them if their phones are unsatisfactory.
I probably should point out that I own a Jolla phone, and I’m very happy with it. I think they are quite close to the point where they could consider devices other than their own handset. I think they will also need to worry about a revenue model for their OS. Perhaps some sort of crowd funding for certain popular devices?
Edited 2014-01-13 20:17 UTC
From Jolla CEO Tomi Pienimäki…
â€We won’t get money by selling the OS. It has to be something else on top of that. It can be applications, services or advertising. Whatever is their revenue model, we should be able to get a slice of that.â€
http://www.talouselama.fi/nakoislehti/jolla%20ceo%20you~*~@…
The only way this will work is to have Sailfish installed on more phones which means not just ones from Jolla. You are not going to be able to buy a Jolla phone in many markets anytime soon (like the US).
I’m not a happy owner of the Jolla handset because it doesn’t work with my network (at least in current hardware revision). So I’d appreciate if the OS would be easily installable on other available devices. However I don’t expect Jolla to provide any official support for such scenarios. We aren’t talking about that anyway, but about functional availability of such ports.
Edited 2014-01-13 21:35 UTC
No, I am not looking for Jolla to support other phones but to have official builds available for certain phones which they have already announced is in the works.
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/11/30/221208/sailfish-can-offic…
I already gave the Ubuntu Touch example. You must not be aware that some phones (Nexus and others) have drivers that are available and the boot-loader may be unlocked where one may load an OS of one’s choice.
It is in Jolla’s interest to do this to expand their install base…
I’m sure Jolla is not going to support any such thing soon, as in allocating resources for such support. But such functionality can become available in the future nevertheless. You probably care more about functionality, but you call it support incorrectly.
Edited 2014-01-13 21:33 UTC
Indeed, while Canonical can focus on putting Ubuntu Touch on Nexus devices and other easy access hardware now that their own phone project is dead in the water, Jolla is shipping a phone. It only makes sense for them to focus on their own device first, and generic devices when they are able to.
Not to mention, Jolla is a small group, and Ubuntu is backed by a huge company and an extremely large community. They have the resources — money and people — to put their OS on other phones, as well as tablets, TVs, and so on.
And finally, the two companies have different agendas; Jolla is narrowly focused on mobile phones, while Canonical wants Ubuntu on everything with a screen. It only makes sense for the Ubuntu team to target several devices at once.
Which I think is good for Jolla. Being focused makes them apply resources better. And they wisely use the benefit of synergy with the global Linux community, instead of being isolationist. Canonical while trying to be all over the place also for some reasons attempts to reinvent the wheel (like making Mir, instead of using Wayland and etc.) and often ends up going the NIH path. In result they can’t put their finances straight: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU3MDg
Edited 2014-01-14 16:41 UTC
The main community forum for Sailfish is here: http://talk.maemo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=52
The forum about Jolla’s hardware: http://talk.maemo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=56
I know what he meant, and that english probably isn’t Stefano Mosconi’s first language, but man does that sound creepy, and a bit sexist…
Or like a close-knit team that really enjoy working together.
Get over yourself, “guys and girls” is a friendly colloquial expression in my book.
I think he was referring to the word “in” that preceded “guys and girls”, not the phrase itself.
“We did this in about 100 guys and girls: we built an OS, an app store, a product, logistic and sales channels, online collaboration tool, SDK and developer intake.”
In other words, it looks like he’s saying that the development of Jolla’s software and hardware literally took place within the bodies of 100 people. I’m assuming that’s not what Mosconi meant, unless Jolla phones are like xenomorphs & need to gestate inside a human host.
Re-read it. Then re-read it again. IN guys and girls? With would be the right term. In, as the other commenter points out gives the impression that it is a scene out of Aliens.
Apologies. I see what you mean now.