The Finnish Jolla is profitable for the first time after almost ten years of business activity. This is due to the company’s revenues from its AppSupport compatibility layer, the licensing of Sailfish OS, and cost stabilization.
2020 was an important year for the Finnish company that launched Sailfish OS in 2013 and wanted to offer an alternative to Android and iOS with this mobile operating system. “We made 5.4 million euros in turnover this year, about 50% more than between 2019 and 2020,” the man told TechCrunch. “At the same time, we keep costs at the same level and that results in good profits.”
This profit is partly due to AppSupport. That’s a Linux compatibility layer that Jolla offers to businesses, allowing these platforms to run Android apps as well, even on Android 10. According to Jolla, the performance of Android apps running through AppSupport is the same as apps running on native Android. .
Pienimäki tells TechCrunch that mainly car manufacturers are interested in AppSupport. In this way, they can run Android apps on their Linux infotainment system that was developed in-house and are no longer dependent on Google to run Android applications. “The digital cockpit allows car manufacturers to differentiate themselves. It is very important for them to manage and control the infotainment system themselves,” said the CEO. The company also says it is looking to other markets to offer its services, including iot and heavy industry.
The Finnish Jolla became known in 2013 for its Sailfish OS. This is a mobile operating system that runs on Linux and is partly based on the Mer operating system. That was a derivative of the MeeGo operating system from Nokia and Intel. In 2013, Sailfish OS came out and in November of that year, Jolla also sold its first smartphone that ran on the platform. One of the focal points of Sailfish OS was the fact that the operating system could run Android apps without any problems.
In 2015, the Finnish company presented the Jolla Tablet and started licensing its software to other manufacturers as well. In 2016, the company released the limited edition Jolla C smartphone. The most recent version of Sailfish OS is version 4.1.0.24. With Sailfish 4, Jolla is focusing even more on security, privacy and the integration of the platform in the business world. With Sailfish X, Jolla offers an official way to get the operating system up and running on Sony Xperia 10 and X models.