It’s been busy and productive times with Sailfish OS in the past months and it is time for an update from the cockpit. It is also an exciting week here in Helsinki, Finland as we have Europe’s biggest tech conference Slush 2017 once again going on and we’re looking forward to see and discuss a lot of new innovations during these two days.

Sailfish X – next chapters

The Sailfish X has been a fun and delightful program for the whole Jolla team and it truly has sparked a lot of energy within the Sailfish community. It is also a very significant milestone for the Sailfish OS journey since it is the first time we have made the OS itself available for direct purchase and download. We can already see how well this can scale, and make us react better and faster to the customer needs.

Sailfish X has been now out for six weeks and the reception has been really good. We have received plenty of feedback, based on which we have improved the availability, the installation process and tools, and delivered one full software release with several significant fixes and improvements.

Based on the good experience and reception, we’re looking forward to expanding the program. There will be new countries, which we target to open very soon, and we’ve been working on supporting new Sony Xperia hardware variants and to deliver an up-to-date hardware portfolio for 2018.

Blockchain community phone program

Sailfish X is also a very powerful development platform for various purposes, a device with open software and tools, that can be effectively used to innovate and develop new and exciting stuff without the limitations of legacy platforms. One of the most vibrant emerging technology communities around the world is the blockchain app developers.

When we started the Jolla project, it was the community who made Jolla possible. Community made the applications and you were also the first ones to purchase Jolla phones. So far Jolla has not had enough ways to fuel the community and also reward them for their valuable contributions.

That’s why today here at Slush 2017 we’re excited to announce a blockchain community phone program together with Zipper Global Ltd., a blockchain specialised company founded by Jolla’s co-founder Antti Saarnio, to develop the world’s first Blockchain solutions on top of an open mobile operating system. The program will be utilising Sailfish X as a development platform, and targets to offer the world’s best open development environment for the rapidly expanding developer community of blockchain application developers.

In this collaboration Jolla will be offering the Sailfish X as a core development environment, and Zipper develops and offers the blockchain platform for it. The platform will have its own currency ZIP to fuel the community and platform development. We are also preparing a tailored community program for developing new blockchain related applications and features to Sailfish OS, and further, our intention is to use ZIP tokens to spur community growth and contributions. We will come back to this program later on. Stay tuned!

You can learn more at Zipper’s website and also check out the Zipper platform video.

Latin Americas

As many of you noticed we officially launched Sailfish OS for the Latin American markets together with our licensing partner, Jala Group. After months of development since Mobile World Congress 2017, we were very happy to take further steps and see this partnership delivering its first products.

Let me talk a little about our licensing strategy and the importance of this launch and partnership together with Jala. As we have been talking earlier, we have a regional licensing strategy to expand Sailfish OS in collaboration together with our licensing partners. Prior to this launch for the Latin American markets, we have earlier started partner operations in Russia and in China.

Jala Group is a sizable, 16-year-old software house based in Bolivia in the very middle of Latin American markets, and with more than 650 highly talented engineers delivering software solutions for various markets and customers around the world. With their vast experience on serving demanding international customers, the capacity they have, and the vision and passion of their team, they are now starting to conquer the Latin American markets together with Jolla and Sailfish OS. This is a perfect example of a business partner that Sailfish OS needs in order to proceed and succeed further: a partner with skillful engineers, right level of capacity to engage effectively with our team, the pioneering passion just like you, our community has, and the perseverance to make it for the long run.

I welcome you to view this interview by Mr. Jorge Lopez, Founder and CEO of Jala Group, explaining their reasons to partner with Jolla and start to build technology independence to Latin American markets with Sailfish OS. Mr. Lopez is also visiting the Slush conference together with us here.

Jala Accione smartphones for the Russian markets

Following up the launch in Latin American markets, Jala Group also announced in Moscow the Accione Sailfish smartphones available for the Russian market in collaboration together with Open Mobile Platform LLC, Jolla’s licensing partner for the Russian market. The first products are expected to be available during Q1/2018.

Further, in collaboration with Jala Group , we follow closely the progress in Russian market and are looking for partners in the general European markets to introduce Jala Accione devices further in Europe. We will separately announce once this comes feasible.

Lots of Sailfish action is going on as you can see, let’s keep growing it together.

Your Jolla captain,

Sami