Jolla has announced a new partnership to develop its Sailfish mobile operating system with the African phonemaker Mifone. At Mobile World Congress, Jolla and India-based Intex Technologies also unveiled the new Aqua Fish smartphone powered by Sailfish OS.
The Aqua Fish is the first device running on a licensed Sailfish OS, part of Jolla's new strategy to expand beyond making its own hardware and build partnerships in the BRICS countries. Sales of the Intex phone will start by the end of April. Aqua Fish comes with a new concept for integrating premium locally relevant content directly into the smartphone user interface. These services, called Super Apps, are available to the user with a single swipe from the home view, and they are designed to improve the user experience significantly. The first market Super Apps will include Times Internet’s Gaana music service and e-commerce group Snapdeal.
With Mifone, Jolla expects to launch a phone running Sailfish OS in several African markets in Q2. This will also integrate locally relevant content to target a mass audience.
Also at MWC, Jolla announced a deal with Fairphone, maker of a sustainable smartphone. Since the autumn of 2015 the Jolla developer community has been working to port Sailfish OS to the Fairphone 2. Following the progress of the community porting, Jolla and Fairphone are now evaluating possibilities to enter into commercial collaboration.
Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/jolla-partners-mifone-launches-first-phone-with-intex--1130159