Jolla Plans To Lock Down Its MeeGo Phone, Promises App Store (UPDATE: Developer Edition Planned)

Say what you will about Jolla, the startup hoping to bring MeeGo back from the dead, but the company certainly has spirit. Managing director of Jolla, Jussi Hurmola, understands that the platform needs solid third-party apps as well as a thriving app store to have any chance of surviving in the mobile market. He went on to say that the company is hoping to build up an ecosystem around MeeGo, and will put out its own app store that will let customers purchase and download apps.

Not surprisingly, Hurmola points to an already available app that seems to be on just about every device on the planet, Angry Birds, but he went on to recognize the importance of a healthy app store. In addition to releasing details about its upcoming phone, Jolla has pledged to inform the world about the availability of upcoming applications. The phone is currently on track for a release later on in the year, although Hurmola doesn't guarantee Christmas availability.

Interesting, Jolla doesn't want the phone to be as open as some Android devices, saying that the kernel will be locked down and that customers won't be able to flash their own software. Jolla intends the phone to appeal to the mass market, hoping to create a phone "almost everybody would want for themselves." Good luck to the company: it certainly has a uphill battle ahead, with the likes of iOS, Android, and Windows Phone to compete with.

UPDATE: It looks like something was lost in translation regarding the phone's hackability. Jolla plans to offer a developer edition of its phone on top of the retail version, allowing developers and hackers to tinker with the system that should spur development for the platform.

[via International Business Times]