The small Finnish start-up seeded by Nokia's Linux platform has taken to the Slush stage twenty-four hours after the revitalised Nokia announced its first Android-powered tablet to reveal its first tablet. Powered by Sailfish OS and with a heavy focus on multi-tasking, Jolla's tablet will be available during the first half of 2015, but supporters of Jolla can reserve one now via Indiegogo.
Jolla's main focus remains on the operating system, and the tablet joins the Jolla smartphone as a mix of 'technology demonstration' and a way for the community to support the company as it builds a Finnish alternative to Android. Jolla does not see itself as a hardware company, but the introduction of a tablet allows the company to introduce Sailfish to a new form factor.
The tablet sports a 1.8 GHz Quad Core Intel processor, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of Memory, a 7.9 inch 2048x1536 display, and a five megapixel camera. Anyone who was around for the Nokia N1 announcement yesterday may feel a touch of deja vu, but there are two important differences to Jolla's offering.
The first is the price. At $189 before taxes and shipping, this tablet is significantly cheaper than Nokia's $249 offering. The second is availability. Jolla's tablet will not be restricted to the Chinese market, but will be available worldwide.
(Read more about Jolla's first smartphone).
Speaking to Jolla's Antti Saarnio, he told me what the Sailfish OS can offer. "Tablets lack a good multi-tasking experience. There are several hundred Android tablets available, what we are doing is bringing innovation to the market and software is the key. My personal belief is that the multitasking on Sailfish OS brings a new level of user experience to the tablet form-factor."
The use of crowd funding (via Indiegogo) is being done not to finance the project, but to engage the fan base and early customers. Within one hour 1300 of the initial 2000 tablets had already been purchased through the campaign page, and there is "no limit" on the number of tablets that can be purchased. Prototypes of the tablet are on display at Slush, although the software is still under development.
Jolla is continuing to push a boutique strategy to promote its operating system. The key product is the operating system and the different approach to the user experience offered by the software. This is paired up with hardware that allows supports of the OS to have a tailored experience while displaying competency and ability to prospective partners. The hardware operation may be small (and barely registers in market share) but it continues to give the Finnish company significant visibility in the smartphone ecosystem, both through media events and appearances (such as Slush) but also through creating a legion of dedicated fans to magnify the message online.
With the growth of tablets in the BRIC markets, this is a smart bit of leverage on the Jolla community to show that Sailfish OS is 'tablet ready' The key for Jolla moving into 2015 and beyond is to build on this visibility and bring in some strong commercial partners and licensing deals.
(Read more about Jolla in my interview with Co-Founder Marc Dillon).
