Russia's bid for mobile self-sufficiency may be the saviour of Sailfish
The quest for freedom from US technologies and patent fees has been a persistent theme in China and has helped shape the new mobile landscape, in which Baidu and Alibaba, not Google and Amazon, dominate the user experience. Less is heard about another massive market, Russia, but here too, the push for technology self-sufficiency is gathering momentum, creating opportunities for alternatives to Android and iOS.
The Russian government has chosen Sailfish – a Finnish Linux-based mobile operating system created by start-up Jolla – as the basis of its own mobile software platform, which will be developed by new venture Open Mobile Platform (OMP) and will be adopted by government agencies and state-owned corporations.
Sailfish’s new direction endorsed
This is a major boost for Sailfish, which was created by former Nokia employees based on the MeeGo OS, codeveloped by Nokia and Intel, but sidelined when the former embraced Windows Phone.
Despite a strong technical pedigree, Sailfish has struggled to gain visibility in a world where even Microsoft could not penetrate the Android/iOS fortress. But it has received a shot in the arm now it has been officially designated as an alternative to Android for Russia, and has received funding from OMP.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/07/russia_bid_mobile_self_sufficiency_sailfish/
