Vers van de pers: Jolla splitst op in twee bedrijven

Jolla heeft vandaag bekend gemaakt dat het zich zal opsplitsen in twee bedrijven. Het ene (Jolla Ltd.) zal zich toeleggen om de ontwikkeling van SailfishOS, het andere zal zich bezighouden met devices. Het tweede bedrijf bestaat nog niet.

Het persbericht (PDF):

Jolla strengthens focus on Sailfish OS licensing and
development; a new company to continue device business

Jolla Ltd., the Finnish mobile company and developer of open mobile operating
system Sailfish OS, today announced a change in its company structure and
management as further action toward company’s strategy to focus on Sailfish OS
licensing and development.

As of today, the company Jolla Ltd. will concentrate on the development and licensing
business of the independent and open mobile operating system Sailfish OS. A new
company will be established to continue Jolla’s device business, where the company sees
a specific interest from privacy-aware consumers and corporations around the world.

Dr. Antti Saarnio, Chairman of Board of Jolla Ltd. takes charge of leading Jolla Ltd. Dr.
Tomi Pienimäki, former CEO has been appointed to a new position outside the company,
in which he will move during August. A new leader for Jolla devices business will be
appointed during this autumn.

Antti Saarnio comments: “Every young company has to find its clear focus at some time,
and for Jolla that time is now. We have huge opportunities in the Sailfish OS licensing
business, and I am very proud and excited to take responsibility of steering the Jolla ship
to a new commercial phase. After three years of intensive Sailfish OS research &
development we are now moving full speed to new bigger waters, which requires full focus
on software from the team.”

“We have already proven that there is demand for unlike Jolla devices in the market and
we continue to see good opportunities for it. We have now decided to continue the Jolla
devices business under a new company, focusing on security enhanced devices.”

Jolla Ltd. will be present in Mobile World Congress Shanghai next week (July 15-17) and
will be showcasing progress in the Sailfish OS licensing business. “This is a key event for
us, and a right place to show what we have achieved during the last few months, in
particular in India and Russia,” Antti Saarnio continues.

Jolla is committed to deliver the Jolla Tablet to its Indiegogo crowdfunding contributors and
is working hard to start first shipments as soon as possible. “The software (Sailfish OS)
part of the work is in good shape but we have been slowed down by supply issues of
certain hardware components. We expect to solve this issue very soon,” Mr. Saarnio says.

The new Jolla devices company will be announced separately after the summer.