Unfortunately that doesn't come unexpected.

I think the problem is, that nobody nowadays wants to risk anything. All the manufacturers are not keen enough to offer another OS than Android (or iOS).

In mobile market the only chance to introduce a new OS successfully is, when you have a well known brand, a lot of money and the will to make both - Hardware and Software. Jolla only had the will to make Hard and Software. But they are to small to do it in a competitive way.

It is unbelievable that they nevertheless managed to make a phone and at least some tablets. And in my opinion they made a really great phone (don't know about the tablet, I fear I will never see mine), but that doesn't matter.

There were a lot of friends which said: Oh that's a great phone that you own. But in the end they all bought their next Android phone. Giving up their freedom and another chance to break through a wall of monopolism.

On the other hand there were a lot of people which bought a Jolla and always expected to have THE Superphone, which has all features of the Galaxies and iPhones in the world and all features should have been better implemented. I think they also have a joint guilt.

Well I'm really sad reading of the actual situation.
Probably I will buy another phone before it is to late. I don't see any reasonable alternatives on the horizon, so better to have a spare Jolla.

Hopefully i'm to pessimistic, therefore:

SAIL ON JOLLA!!!

Oh come on, not another "it's the others' fault!"

If someone does not buy your product, it is not the buyer's fault. It is yours. It is your job to promote it, your job to persuade the buyers of its benefits, your job to beg, borrow or steal if necessary.

Jolla has failed in that job, plain and simple. They have produced a nice product with some potential but failed to realize that potential and, most crucially, failed to make it attractive. Simple as that. To continue blaming others is the same as admitting, "I have learned nothing".

Analyzing reasons is not "it's other's fault." If there is no demand as manufacturers don't want to risk already slim margins (as majority of them generate losses anyway) it doesn't matter if your product is good or bad anymore. Only way to succeed would be to have backing of another big corporation, which never comes without strings attached. So yes, if Jolla ends up in bankruptcy, it's their fault as that they tried to do the impossible with support from community. Lessons learned:

- you need a big partner for continued funding
- communities won't help you generate that funding
- don't even try, you will fail
- after failure you only get public shaming and ridicule even from your own community

There is no dead body and you are already making a funeral.

Expect the best, prepare for the worst (Chinese proverb)

JulmaHerra, when your parents/spouse (sorry, I don't know your background) point out that you left a dirty spot when you were washing the dishes, do you also throw in a towel and exclaim, "I won't even try, I will always fail, all I get is shaming and ridicule"? Or do you try to learn from the experience and wash up better the next time?

...but you can try it as hard as you like, if the dirty spot is burnt-in.

Depends. If I get the feeling that result is the same no matter what or how I do it, then yes, I'll throw in the towel and do something else as I usually don't want to waste my time on futile attempts. IMO it's the only sensible thing to do in such circumstances as I have witnessed relationships where everything seems to be based on finding errors from things the other one does and bemoaning them as if they were the most important things in the world. I try to do my best not doing it with my wife, son and daughter, as I want to encourage them to try out things by themselves and offer guidance when they need it rather than wait for them to fail so I can ridicule and belittle them. "It's you fault and your fault only!11!" IMO is as nonconstructive as "it's all the other's fault!11!!" as they both concentrate on finding someone guilty instead of analyzing why and how certain things happened. I'm sorry, but I don't like the blame games, hence my little bit cynical remark.

Did you ever try to see it from the other side's view? If you consistently leave a dirty spot, then of course the response is always the same.

In this particular case, yes, you can say, "It's the bloody manufacturers, it's their fault, they are bloody cowards and do not want to risk anything".
Or you can say, "We have so far failed to persuade the manufactures to try our alternative, where have we made mistakes and how can we alleviate them?"

Which one is more constructive?

Soooo... What do folks here expect to be the "next time"?

To my mind, Jolla was just about the optimal case for creating a new mobile OS, independent from the big guys. They started with a group of folks with deep expertise in mobile operating systems; they were able to build on the existing Mer infrastructure; they had a decent amount of startup funding; and they were explicitly following the trail already blazed by Google, by offering to license their OS on devices built by other manufacturers.

The concept looked _great_ to me!

So, what exactly are people supposed to learn from this experience?

My guess would be:

a) Manufacturers of mobile devices are now loathe to experiment with new OSs. Maybe Google's path is now dead; Samsung is playing around with Tizen, but that's probably because they want an OS that is completely controlled in-house. The Ubuntu phone is interesting, but doesn't seem to be aimed directly at challenging Android; they don't seem to be trying to license the OS to major manufacturers...

b) Openness doesn't give you an advantage. Apparently you don't need to be more open than Android; many, many more people seem willing to root an Android device, install CM, and develop their software on that, than to do anything with (say) a build of Mer or Sailfish, or something else not tied directly to Android.

I just don't see anybody examining this experience and saying: "We need to be more open! We need to get our OS onto more devices!" That just doesn't work. It'll be the opposite -- "We need to tie our software more closely to our hardware!" I mean, Apple certainly isn't hurting by following this strategy. I'm guessing Android itself will be slowly retreating, as more manufacturers switch to OSs built totally in-house...

This is the end I'm afraid.

With Jolla out of capital and with no revenue in the pipeline, it's impossible for them to develop/release any kind of product. If they can't make money themselves, they will need someone else with deep pockets to come in and rescue them. To be honest, I find it very hard to believe that anyone will licence Sailfish for a fee (considering both Android and Windows Mobile are both free). I can only see two options left at this stage.

1. Jolla scale down dramatically, release Sailfish under the Apache Licence as Open Source software and rely on the community to fund/develop the OS.
2. A hardware partner without an OS to purchase Sailfish and bring it in house (e.g. emulate what LG did with WebOS).