A case of the ex: Jolla readying Sailfish devices to prove Nokia wrong

Jolla, the startup partly comprising of ex-Nokia employees, reckons it will have hardware ready next month.

While the phone won't be available to buy, the move will show that Jolla, formed by disgruntled Nokians who wanted to continue the work into MeeGo (the OS created by the Finns and Intel) through the Sailfish operating system, is serious about bringing out hardware based on the concept.

The handset, which will feature 'modern Scandinavian design', according to Jolla Chairman Antti Saarnio, will also be offered early in a Kickstarter-style agreement where users will get a level of personalisation based on their contribution.

Sailfish OS will take a huge number of cues from MeeGo, meaning a BB10-style swipe to move between windows (although it should be noted MeeGo got there first with this concept before being scrapped by Nokia).

Coming soon

There's no word on how the phone will look, but it appears this isn't a fly-by-night scheme set up to curry the affection of ex-Nokia-lovers who have had to sit and watch Symbian and MeeGo crumble.

According to DigiToday, the Finnish news site which ran the story, Jolla has enough cash to launch the first phones in Finland, and is seeking more funding to increase its rollout later in the year.

While it's hard to see the OS gaining that much traction in a world dominated by Android and iOS, the concepts that underpinned MeeGo impressed us greatly, with a similar-yet-superior feel to BB10 noted when we first played with the Nokia N9 (the design of which became the Nokia Lumia 800).

So here's hoping the brand can expand outside of Finland (that was totally a triple rhyme) and we can see a renaissance of another fallen OS.