Jolla Sailfish OS gets certified for Russian government use

Things have been a little rough so far this year for Jolla, the Finnish startup behind the open-source Sailfish OS. First its tablet device was confirmed dead after a mere 540 units were shipped, and then it found itself in financial trouble before securing $12 million in funding. But now there's some good news for the future of Sailfish, which is that Russia has certified the OS for official use in both governments and corporations.

This is a big deal for a small, struggling Android alternative, especially considering that 95% of the Russian mobile market is controlled by iOS and Android proper. Their benefit comes from the fact that Russia is highly motivated to move away from the use of foreign-controlled OSes, with a goal of hitting 50% by the year 2025.

The Russian government has also been calling for the development of locally made platforms, which ties into Jolla's other Sailfish success this year. The startup's main goal is to license the OS, which Open Mobile Platform (OMP), a new Russian company, has done in its effort to create a version for domestic use.

Sailfish remains compatible with Android apps and software, giving it a big advantage over other open-source mobile OSes. Because of this, Sailfish finds itself at the center of Russia's domestic platform development, with OMP CEO Pavel Eyges saying, "We believe that open source based and independent Sailfish OS is the mobile OS platform of the future. It has great potential in Russia and elsewhere."

SOURCE TechCrunch