The smartphone market is one ruthless beast, and today it took yet another unsuspecting prey, Jolla. The Finnish phone-maker today announced that they were unable to close the latest round of funding leading to lay offs.
Jolla came into being 4 years ago to provide an alternative gesture-based open source, Sailfish OS. The company was never able to reach the heights of Nokia, a giant from the same land, but its demise is a bit more sad in a lot of ways. They started with a novel idea to have a button-less phone and operate everything with gestures. The company succeeded in making a smooth user experience and with support for Android apps they had a real chance. But lack of availability, developer support and pricing led to where we are now.
Jolla started out great with their first smartphone in a frenzy of press, and also made a successful crowd-funded campaign for its Jolla Tablet. The company also entered India with huge hopes, but they were never realized in our price-sensitive market. Then they looked to China, and setup a R&D center in Hong Kong to bolster Sailfish OS through licensing. But lofty claims aside, there was no real interest in the platform.
Rounding back to today, with no funding in sight, Jolla has filed a debt restructuring plan in Helsinki, with which the company plans to get more time for future financing. Although its not all doom and gloom over at Finland according to Jolla Chairman Antti Saarnio:
I believe that through this program Jolla can turn its business to be profitable in the future. Sailfish OS is a very valuable asset and worth fighting for.
But for some it might be the end of a dream as layoffs begin next month.
