Jolla, a company founded by former Nokia employees dedicated to creating MeeGo-based smartphones, announced its first major partnership today, a distribution agreement with China's largest mobile phone retailer.
According to a press release, China's D.Phone Group will "start sales and distribution of Jolla smartphones in China" with its more than 2,000 retail stores in the country. The company's CEO, Donhai Liu, cited Jolla's unique user experience as a primary reason for the partnership. "We see great potential for Jolla as a new player in the Chinese smartphone market with Jolla’s fresh and unique user experience," Liu said in the press release. "Together with Jolla our aim is to reach significant sales volumes."
Nokia has also partnered with the startup through its Bridge program, which allows departing employees to receive funding, training and support for entrepreneurial ventures. Jolla was founded through Nokia's Bridge program, as many of Nokia's former MeeGo staff left the company when MeeGo was abandoned.
Jolla was founded late last year by former Nokia employees following Nokia's announcement of partnership with Microsoft on Windows Phone, which resulted in the company's cancellation of its MeeGo initiatives. MeeGo is a Linux-based mobile operating system that began as a collaboration between Nokia and Intel. The two companies have since abandoned the operating system, although Intel is now working on another Linux-based mobile operating system, Tizen, in a partnership with Samsung.
Source: Nokia Innovation
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