Jolla has announced that it is set to build a Sailfish OS ecosystem in Africa, beginning with South Africa.
The firm has already announced its aim of developing a Sailfish OS based mobile ecosystem to Russia. South Africa represents the next step in its strategy for the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). Jolla is now joining forces to create the Sailfish Africa consortium together with its local partner Dr. Sello Rathete, one of the co-founders of South-African operator Cell-C.
The initiative starts from South Africa, with the aim of expanding the ecosystem to other African countries.
Dr. Antti Saarnio, Chairman of the Board of Jolla, said: “We are now taking practical steps forward to create the Sailfish Africa ecosystem together with local powerhouses from e-commerce, digital media and mobile. Africa deserves to have its own independent mobile ecosystem. Current development with only one mobile OS is leading to digital colonisation, and it must be avoided. That is why we see strong interest from local players to join the agenda.”
Dr. Sello Rathete said: “I have been following Jolla and Sailfish OS for more than a year now, and I have realised that Sailfish OS is the only existing alternative to build a viable independent mobile ecosystem. Online and offline businesses are rapidly moving to mobile and it is essential for African economies to start developing their own independent ecosystems for mobile. It does not make sense that all the businesses in mobile are taxed by US companies, and we also need to have a platform where we can freely develop our own solutions for e-commerce, mobile banking and e-learning. That is what Sailfish OS offers to Africa.”
Jolla’s plan is to offer African internet powerhouses a Sailfish OS based platform to which they can effectively integrate their local services and solutions. The objective is to offer one mobile platform for all BRICS countries, and create regional solutions by integrating local services to them. As Sailfish OS is an open source platform with open source software, integrating support for local services to the operating system is both effective and natural.
Saarnio added: “In addition to South Africa, we are currently building similar initiatives with local partners in India and Russia.”
