Jolla answers our questions!

So last month I got Ali to post about getting an interview with Jolla, and asked you, the readers, if there were things you wanted to know. Well now we have the answers, and reading through them, I am bloody excited about what may come out of the ex-Nokia staff start-up. Their answers remind me a lot of the standard Nokia replies. I guess that is good in a way, as they give you enough to keep you intrigued, but never really tell you anything. Let’s dissect some of the responses:

Will you licence anything from Nokia’s MeeGo projects? eg. Location services, low power screen, etc.
- Unfortunately we cannot comment on our license deals individually.

Does this mean they may be licensing certain things from Nokia? Or will there be other companies that they licence from.

How open will you be about accepting community input? ie. Community concepts, “ideas project” etc.
- We are working closely with the community all the time, and we look forward to community plans and ideas. We are incorporating community contributions and we are contributing back to the community ourselves.

Although it doesn’t tell us a lot, at least it means Jolla will be paying attention to actual users, and not merely doing what they think the user wants, which is what I believe has been a large downfall for Nokia.

I know there is a limit to what you can reveal about the device, but will there be multiple form-factors?
- We are now working on our first smartphone and it will be revealed later this year. For the next products in our roadmap we are contemplating different form-factors.

Do you intend to have a significant amount of OS APIs available to developers?
- Yes, we are. We don’t have any other needs than quality, continuity and certain protected areas to block access to API’s.

Being linux based, will it be a debian system? Or use RPM packages?
- We are using RPM packages.

Do you have a differentiation strategy?
- MeeGo itself is now a differentiation strategy. An independent ecosystem is a clear differentiation from iOS, Microsoft and even Android. We are creating a new user experience which will be clearly different.

I like this line a lot “Meego itself is now a differentiation strategy”. It is true, since nobody else is using MeeGo, they are clearly setting themselves apart from the competition. Whether it will be enough or not, we will need to wait and see. Remember Grid10? That was using its own OS, and company went bankrupt.

Will you aim devices at a specific niche market, or general consumer (or both)?
- We are targeting the general consumer segments, but we will also make sure that the community members and technology enthusiasts will have maximum access to what Jolla is doing.

In regards to last two questions: Glad some great designers will be there. Am keen to see something other than the typical rectangle. I didn’t mind the design of the 6600 back in the day.

Any intention to have OpenMobile ACL?
- We have so far been talking about our Qt/Qml application ecosystem, and we will continue revealing more about our application ecosystem later this year.

Will you use your own app store, or the current “Apps for MeeGo” that is also found on Nemo?
- MeeGo, as an independent platform, gives us a good opportunity to partner with content providers, be it media, apps or something else. Naturally a serious smartphone needs a native method of accessing the application offering.

What are your thoughts on being called “Ferrari of the Smartphone world”?
- Ferrari is a nice car, and a very well known brand. As a value association, it’s an honour to be compared to Ferrari, though we intend to be more accessible to the general consumer.

Since Swipe UX is Nokia patented, will we see the same style of Swipe that is in Nemo?

We are making a new Jolla UX that cannot be seen anywhere at the moment. We are going to inherit elements from MeeGo software that are well received by the users.

Will there be worldwide availability? And also, sold through carriers?

We are looking at 3 different channels depending on the continent. Retailers, operators and online stores. We recently announced our first retail partner in China, and will continue announcing new partnerships as time goes by.

What architecture will the devices support?

MeeGo itself supports Intel and many ARM based architectures. We will reveal the architecture with the product later this year.

Will you aim for a low, mid, or high-end device? Or will you cover all the tiers?

We will first release one smartphone and later on we are looking at different options on our roadmap to cover different user experiences and devices.

Where do you see the company going in the next 5 years?

We want to be a significant volume player in the market and we want to make MeeGo ecosystem vibrant, valuable and extensive.

On a support note, how will you offer servicing of devices to consumers?

This varies a bit based on the commercial channels used in different locations. On the software side we want to make sure that every Jolla device, once bought, stays relevant.

Will there be a developer device program, similar to the N950s and the Tizen Devices?

The MeeGo platform needs a reference smartphone device. We are in talks with the community and developers to understand how we can best support their development.

We’ve been told most of the MeeGo team from Nokia are now at Jolla. I would like to know if some of in the industrial designers that created the N9 form factor are now with Jolla.

We have our own in-house industrial design, and some of these people have long careers in Nokia and have been behind many different devices.

How does Jolla mobile ensure that their hardware design is going to stand out?

Considering the current trends in the mobile marketplace, it is not that difficult to stand out when it comes to hardware design.

So there you have it. Personally, I am looking forward to how they handle the issue of apps, the design they choose, and this Jolla UX they mentioned. If it can fill the void left by Nokia abandoning the N9′s future, I think the majority of N9 owners will find a viable upgrade.

What are your thoughts on the responses? Let us know below

Please do not fill up comments regarding us bringing attention/coverage to Jolla. It is a company started by ex-Nokia staff, using an OS created by a joint venture where Nokia was a partner.

P.S Sorry about the formatting, there seems to have been some issue caused by copying and pasting Jolla’s responses

Edit by Jay (Formatting wp bug sorted).

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Category: Jolla, Linux, MeeGo, News