First Jolla phone to come with a large catalog of apps and a locked kernel
Start-up Jolla Mobile's CEO, Jussi Hurmola, has been very talkative these days, revealing juicy details about the company's work, and today is no different, as we've learned that the first Jolla phone will come with a large catalog of applications and a locked kernel.
The locked kernel is something that doesn't surprise us much. After all, Hurmola has already said that Jolla's first handset will be designed with the mass consumer in mind, not the hardcore geek who'd flash ROMs. That kind of strategy seems very reasonable to us, since Jolla's still a small start-up that needs to reach an audience as broad as it can with its products.
Apparently, the CEO has recognized the fact that if a smartphone wants to be successful in today's landscape, it needs to have access to a large catalog of applications. He has announced that the first MeeGo-powered Jolla phone will come with its own app store that should house a large number of applications. Now, where they are going to get all those apps from is beyond us, because we can't imagine that there will be too many devs willing to spend much of their precious time developing for a brand new OS with zero market share. Microsoft is doing quite well, adding new titles to its catalog very quickly, but it's still just over the 100,000 mark, which is far behind what iOS and Android have. And we're talking about Microsoft here.
The first Jolla phone is expected to be announced later this year, although it's not certain if the manufacturer will be able to bring it to market in time for the Holiday season.
source: InternationalBusinessTimes via SlashGear
The locked kernel is something that doesn't surprise us much. After all, Hurmola has already said that Jolla's first handset will be designed with the mass consumer in mind, not the hardcore geek who'd flash ROMs. That kind of strategy seems very reasonable to us, since Jolla's still a small start-up that needs to reach an audience as broad as it can with its products.
Of course, we don't really think that a mobile OS needs to have 500k + apps in order to be successful. More importantly, it needs to have the basics covered, which would include the most popular games, apps and services. The hundreds of Angry Birds clones can easily wait.
The first Jolla phone is expected to be announced later this year, although it's not certain if the manufacturer will be able to bring it to market in time for the Holiday season.
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