Jolla to launch smartphone with 'Sailfish' OS on 27 Nov

Helsinki/New Delhi: The first smartphone on new operating system Sailfish, which has been developed by a group of former Nokia employees, will be launched on 27 November by Jolla in partnership with Finnish telecom operator DNA. [caption id=“attachment_1230261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The smartphone will be launched on 27 November.[/caption] “Being a Finnish operator, it has been very important to DNA to be able to support a Finnish success story, one in which we see great potential. People have been eagerly awaiting Jolla phones and their long wait will finally be rewarded in Helsinki on the 27th,” DNA’s Business Director Cedric Kamtsan said in a statement. The company website says that the smartphone is priced at Euros 399 (approx. Rs 34,000). The phone has 4.5 inch display screen, 8 MP main camera and 2 MP front camera. It has 16 GB internal storage besides slot for memory card, among other features. The Sailfish operating system have been developed by some former employees of Nokia. These employees had worked on Meego operating system that was being developed by Nokia in partnership with computer chip giant Intel. Nokia had launched N9 model on Meego platform in mid-2011. The employees formed a new company Jolla, after Meego was dumped by Nokia under its then newly appointed CEO Stephen Elop, who charted a plan to go with Windows OS. Smartphone operating systems are dominated by Google’s Android platform. Apple’s iOS, Microsoft’s Windows and BlackBerry are the other smartphone operating systems. “As the first Jolla phone is about to be launched, everything is ready to make the consumers involved. The launch does not mark the end to product development, it goes on in cooperation with the consumers,” Jolla CEO Tomi Pienimaki said. Jolla claims that Sailfish has achieved compatibility with hardware used for Android operating system. It would be easy for any Android-based phone maker to see Sailfish as an alternative operating system, analysts said. The world’s first Jolla phones will be primarily sold to those who have made a pre-booking, and they will be invited at the launch event, the statement said. Since May 2013, the first batch of Jolla phones were completely pre-booked by consumers from Finland as well as from many other countries in Europe and Asia. On November 27, the company plans to handover 450 pre-booked phones and the rest would be available at DNA Kauppa outlets in early December, the statement said. PTI