Former employees of Nokia are chasing the smartphone market after releasing its first 450 handsets in Finland.
This could be a smart move by the Finnish startup firm, Jolla, but is it strong enough to take on competitors?
The Jolla phone is priced at €399 (£332), which is more expensive than Motorola’s latest Moto G at $179, and has a 4.5-inch screen with a 960 x 540 pixel resolution and a dual-core chip. The Moto G’s screen is the same size with a 720p resolution and a quad-core chip.
What’s more, figures from IDC and Gartner show that 81% of smartphones shipped globally from July to September ran Google’s Android software, with Samsung’s Galaxy S4-maker gaining most of the market share. Apple’s iOS accounted for 13% and although Windows phone gained less than 5%, shipments were up 156%.
Co-founder Marc Dillon recently said the open nature of the phone’s operating system would allow it to stand out from rivals. The Sailfish open-source operating system, which is loosely based on MeeGo, the failed OS system developed by Nokia and Intel, can run most apps designed for Google’s Android system.
However Sailfish OS is among a number of other open source mobile operating systems looking to make an impact in the smartphone market. Firefox OS, Tizen and Ubuntu Mobile are also developing alternatives.
Is it strong enough this time to take them all on? Let us know your thoughts.
