Jolla, pronounced as Yoo-Laa, is a Finnish company that was started by many ex-Nokia employees. Their vision? To create a beautiful Smartphone and UX that serves the user better than any other ecosystem. Of course, the company hasn’t made strides in bringing their first Smartphone to the masses, which is why many of you may never have heard of their name before this.
Partnering with Snapdeal, the Jolla Smartphone will be sold in India exclusively via their online shopping portal. With an estimated price of Rs. 28,500 (349 Euro), we aren’t too sure. Would you skip an Android Smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and spend that money on a device from Jolla? Or, would you ditch your current iPhone for Jolla’s new phone? I wouldn’t, on both counts. So why is Jolla coming to India?
India is a rising Smartphone market, and Jolla understands that. There are many Nokia MeeGo (N9) fans across the country who, till date, curse Nokia for having abandoned that project (that includes me).
The Jolla Smartphone would be the dream phone that they always wanted to own, but never got a chance to. Sporting a very N9-esque design, Jolla looks simple yet beautiful. There’s an air of elegance about it.
Specifications wise, Jolla has a 4.5-inch qHD (960 x 540) display with Gorilla Glass 2, 1.4 GHz dual-core Snapdragon chipset, 8 MP rear and 2 MP front cameras, 16 GB storage, microSD card slot, 1 GB RAM, a 2,100 mAh battery and 4G LTE support. But it’s not the specs that people would be looking at. Sailfish OS runs the show, and Jolla have been constantly improving the UX with a stream of regular updates (on a monthly basis).
Check out Jolla’s Introductory video to know more about the smartphone.
However, Jolla is going to have a tough time here. Despite a beautiful hardware and software mix, people aren’t going to part with their hard-earned Rs. 28,500 (again, this is just based on pure speculation) for a phone that has virtually no support in this country, with unfinished software (in terms of features) and so little to show on the specifications front! Add to that the fact that India has a long queue of ultra-cheap-yet-high-spec smartphones coming up
Mozilla, for that matter, is targeting an entirely different market. They have launched sub-$50 Smartphones in India, a market that can still be tapped as it is still occupied by feature phones.
Firefox OS based devices target the middle ground (or gap) between feature phones and fully fledged Smartphones by making compromises and providing something that includes select features of both.
Companies like Gionee and Oppo are punching hard with online ads, marketing campaigns to push their own Smartphone portfolio, with their top-end offerings costing upwards of Rs. 25,000. However, both companies offer devices that run on Android and also the promise of service centers across the country.
And then there’s Xiaomi, the silent killer that has made such loud splashes with its recent announcements in India, the entire nation is talking about them.
Jolla does fix one big problem, that is Apps, by supporting Android apps. But that isn’t enough to survive in Indian market that has cutthroat competition.
With the Indian market overcrowded already, is there any space left for Jolla to fit in? Perhaps a few hardcore fans would buy it, but other than that, Jolla is going to have a hard time in India. Especially if they target a Rs. 28,500 price tag.
Perhaps, at Rs. 10,000, I would give it a thought, and so would you.
Too pricey. For this price I would get a nexus instead
Jolla does not include the NSA software like your Samsung does.