Jolla’s Sailfish operating system has been around for a while now. It falls in the same category as Firefox OS and even Tizen as one of the new mobile platforms looking to gain ground and eventually upset the more established platforms like Android and iOS. Tizen is still not yet there as far as mobile devices go even though its phones are doing well in Bangladesh. Mozilla’s Firefox OS is yet to take off seriously and is even abandoning its once-famed $25 entry-level cheap smartphones for more reasonable devices appealing to consumers from a usability perspective as well the as the price point. Jolla is looking to boost its fortunes by tapping into the African market.
Jolla is entering the African market via South Africa where it has created a consortium with local partners and want to position Sailfish specifically for the continent by tuning it to be independent and largely a for-Africa thing. It is looking to achieve the same in several other markets like India and Russia. In Russia, Jolla has been contracted by the government to help it with its plans to develop its own mobile operating system. With the focus of such centered efforts being on BRIC nations, we’re crossing our fingers for an announcement about plans for the Brazilian market soon since they’ve already covered the rest (minus China which has its own COS).