Jolla takes aggressive bite at WP, claims to be the Third Mobile OS

Speaking with Forbes, Antti Saarnio, Chairman of the Board of Jolla Antti Saarnio sees Jolla setting foot in Hong Kong as a sign of becoming the Third Mobile OS.

A wise man said nine months ago, that the third mobile operating system is coming any day now. This man was Li Ka-shing, Asia’s richest man. As Jolla launches today the Jolla smartphone with Hutchison Telecommunications, I claim that the day is today. Good things do take time to grow and the world needs a new mobile OS

WP has been fighting hard for this third place seat (back when Symbian was sky high). WP’s win wasn’t so much defeating the enemy but the enemy tripping over a spike. Symbian did fall, as did BlackBerry and even with that third place, WP’s challenges grow stronger by the day. Android is making strong gains on the high end. iOS may be losing marketshare but they’re increasing sales and holding on quite tightly. Now at the bottom, although BlackBerry isn’t an issue anymore, Jolla might just become one.

A plucky sense of Finnish determination and ambition is what warmed me to Nokia. But back then, Nokia was a known champion that had lost its way. Jolla, although it has roots in Nokia, hasn’t got any big achievements yet. But it is making steps in that direction, at least, as seen by those working at Jolla.

Jolla sees themselves as a commercial differentiator. China is looking and in need for a third mobile OS. Jolla Phone is simply a figurehead to showcase that OS but the idea seems to be to get Chinese manufacturers to push Jolla and become a strong and viable alternative to Android and iOS (not simply the scrap crumb third place).

Currently, Jolla phone is an exciting and innovative device. But frequent reviews critique it for not being that straight forward to learn and for the hardware itself to simply being too little bang for buck; more of a sparkly fizzle really.

As  Ewan Spence says, it’s not close to WP or even BB in terms of Sales, application, carrier support, or public image. Quantitatively, it’s NOT the third OS. Whilst numbers are important, that’s not where Jolla is currently headed. More of a bespoke, boutique line as the quality that each sale creates for the individual customer is the prime point.

Source: Forbes

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Category: Nokia