Marc Dillon, Jolla’s Rock’n’Roll Co-Founder, Departs | TechCrunch

2 Comments

1. September 9, 2015 at 4:44 pm

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Jolla chief quits: Fawning Putin lickspittles to take over?
   Russia noses through Nokia’s bulging rubbish bin for tech independence
   http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/09/jolla_chief_quits_putin_to_take_over/

   Jolla co-founder, COO and figurehead Marc Dillon has quit the Finnish phone outfit.

   Jolla was created as Sailfish and escaped from the burning platforms of Nokia to develop the MeeGo (formerly Maemo) Linux OS for phones. Nokia abandoned that, taking key developers to the startup.

   This year, it sidelined hardware design to focus on software licensing – and looked all set to follow the downward spiral trajectory of so many abandoned mobile platforms.

   Yet earlier this year, it received a fascinating boost from a very unexpected quarter. Wary of Google’s market dominance and data gathering, Finland’s historical enemy Russia has expressed a desire for tech independence, and Russia’s minister of communications and mass media, Nikolai Nikiforov, publicly suggested Sailfish could be part of the story.

   The experience of the Chinese market has proved that mass-market Android smartphones can flourish without Google’s involvement. In addition, the transformation of WeChat into a massive e-commerce and media platform, and the diversity of the other commerce sites, shows that Silicon Valley-style “innovation” may actually flourish faster outside Google’s all-encompassing influence.

   So back in May, a new “Finnish-Russian-Chinese” joint venture was announced, looking for investors from India, Brazil and South Africa.

   Nokia began work on what today is Sailfish in 2002, and the first device to use the OS – a tablet – shipped ten years ago

   CEO Stephen Elop first relegated the Linux OS to a research project, then let it go completely.

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2. November 23, 2015 at 8:27 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Jolla seems to be in serious financial problems:

   Possessing deep trouble: Debt restructuring

   Mobile company Jolla announced that it filed for financial restructuring in order to ensure continuity of operations and profitability translation. The company has filed his own bankruptcy petition in the Helsinki District Court.

   According Jolla ending in November funding round has been delayed, which is why it has to adjust and organize their activities.

   Which will also have to lay off “a significant proportion of its people,” the company says in a statement. The layoffs will begin in phases in December. Jolla Communications Director Juhani Lassila told reporters earlier Aamulehti that more than half of the employees have to be laid off.

   - Start-up typically we have been through the past four years the number of death valley and fought them through and now face is the next big challenge, Antti Saarnio Chairman of the Board Jolla says the release.

   Source: http://www.itviikko.fi/uutiset/2015/11/21/jolla-pahoissa-vaikeuksissa-velkasaneeraus/201515386/7?rss=8

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