Finland's Jolla, Maker of Sailfish OS, is Trying To Cut Ties With Russia (techcrunch.com) 17
Jolla, a Finnish startup that develops a mobile Linux-based alternative to Google's Android which has had some take-up by the Russian government in the past, is looking to restructure its business to jettison links to the Russian state. TechCrunch reports: We reached out to the startup earlier this week to ask if it was concerned about the impact of looming EU sanctions on Russia -- given how, since 2018, it has counted Russian telecom company, Rostelecom, as a strategic investor. "We have actually ramped down business and exports to Russia already in 2021," CEO and co-founder Sami Pienimaki told TechCrunch. "Thus, the potential tech sanctions would not impact Jolla's business anymore. In parallel, Jolla is growing in particular rapidly in the automotive sector, and it formed already significant part of our 2021 revenues. In regards the ownership, that is correct, and something we're looking to re-structure during this year," he also confirmed. Sailfish has been certified in Russia for government and corporate use since 2016.
Putin wants to reconstitute the USSR (Score:3)
And now he'll get it with no manufacturing to speak of, basic industries such as steel making perpetually running on empty, long lines in stores for limited goods, and an all but worthless currency.
As more and more companies leave or cut ties with Russa, look for the good old days of everything in Russia looking like it was cobbled together with scrap metal by a six year old.
When you hear the oligarchs whining they shouldn't be punished, yet refuse to criticize the invasion of Ukraine, you know the sanctions are biting hard and deep.
Re: (Score:2)
So, it's just back to the good old USSR days, when it comes to internal goods, food, etc.
Putin wants to bring back the USSR, he may just get it. Don't know if his vision of USSR will be the same as what it ends up as.
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This is going to be a very painful truth. Putin seems to have taken the UK pre-brexit approach of the "the other guys need us more than we need them so they will be begging to continue trade with us". The reality has been the exact opposite. Even big fuck-the-gulf oil is starting to divest Russia. Think about that a moment. The shitty companies that other companies are starting to divest because of their shittyness, are saying that working with Russia, one of the global meccas for oil and gas is a bridge to
Issue shares (Score:2)
SailfishOS outside of EU (Score:3)
I hope the phasing out of the Russian market will motivate Jolla will solve whatever issues there is that prevent them to sell SailfishOS in the USA.
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I hope the phasing out of the Russian market will motivate Jolla will solve whatever issues there is that prevent them to sell SailfishOS in the USA.
Sadly, the lack of interest of the audience in the target market (the USoA, as per your post) would not be solved by exiting the Russian Market.
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The target market was Rostelcom. Obviously, no longer. It looks like they're focussing on Sailfish-based cars.
Trying to compete with iDroid nearly killed Jolla, just as it killed Microsoft Phone, Blackberry, Firefox OS etc.
Having one big commercial customer saved them. Unfortunately, it was part of the Russian state and hence looking for new owners.
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Aren't countries kinda irrelevant online? Just use a VPN. Sailfish will register your proper address later when they start an official sales channel. Yeah, SF has so few customers, you actually get personal service. ;)
Just check you don't need VoLTE. Sailfish doesn't support it yet.
And for those who don't know, Sailfish is free. It's only the Android support that co$ts.
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VoLTE should come this year. It is coming to the Sony Xperia 10 II and III. Hopefully later more devices will be supported. Sailfish is moving slowly, but it is moving :)
Finns should have pre-emptively rejected Russia. (Score:2)
Tens of thousands of Finns were killed by the Soviet Union whose unreformed successor state wants its conquered territory back then more if it can get it.
Finns trading with their existential enemy is social treason.
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Jolla was seriously desperate. If they hadn't got help from Rostelcom, Sailfish's future would be very uncertain. Even if they gave us the source, they couldn't give us the source for their superb Android app support.
Also, there's nothing wrong with working with ordinary Russians aside from the obvious risks. We should be careful not to blame younger Russians in particular for Putin's fascism.
Withholding irrelevant tech will teach them! (Score:3)
Withholding irrelevant technologies will teach Russia!
I wish I had a irrelevant startup to do something irrelevant just to make me feel I'm on the right side of history.
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Rostelcom probably have (old?) source code to Sailfish (90% is open, but not all). Sailfish's userbase certainly hope the collaboration with Aurora OS's programmers keeps going. Jolla have the equivalent of 15-40 full-time developers (commercial secret) and Aurora OS's developers have increased development ~50%.
This isn't about hurting Russia, but rather making Sailfish more palatable to European countries, particularly under the current circumstances.
Crazy Crazy - Bad Move (Score:2)