Interview: Jolla (Sailfish OS) CEO Sami Pienimäki

Loading player...
In this episode of the podcast, Duncan McLeod is joined by Jolla CEO Sami Pienimäki to talk about the implications for the world of smartphone operating systems of the US government’s decision to force Google to hang up on Huawei.
In the podcast, Pienimäki discusses the impact the decision could have on Jolla’s Sailfish OS, an open-source smartphone operating system tailored for business users and governments around the world. Jolla, Pienimäki says, has received enormous interest from Chinese smartphone makers in Sailfish OS in the wake of the US government’s directive to Google.
Could Sailfish OS, which has its origins in the Linux-based MeeGo OS – previously developed by Finland’s Nokia and US chip giant Intel – potentially be an alternative operating system to Android for Chinese device makers that fear being cut off by Google? Pienimäki explains why he thinks this is the case.
Sailfish OS, which runs Android apps, can be installed by users on a range of handsets, with the software actively being developed and ported by a large community of open-source developers.
Pienimäki explains why Jolla pivoted from the consumer market – at one time it developed its own smartphone and tablet devices – and into the corporate and public sector markets, and why he believes the US government’s moves against Huawei will shake the foundations of the mobile industry.
He talks about Android’s dominance – it’s installed on about 90% of active smartphones – and whether this dominance is poised to be broken by the developments around Huawei. Could a third major smartphone operating system platform now emerge?
He provides his views on Huawei’s new Hongmeng OS, and its chances of success, and talks about why he thinks previous attempts to tackle Android’s dominance with projects such as Ubuntu Touch and the Firefox OS failed.
It’s a great discussion. Don’t miss it!
24 May 2019 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS+ | The retirement decision most South Africans get wrong

What happens to your retirement savings when you leave an employer is one of the most consequential financial decisions most South Africans will make – and one of the most commonly mishandled. In this podcast conversation with Mpho Chitapi, 10X Investments senior investment consultant Michael Rossouw sets out what should…
6 May 55 min

TCS | The Cape Town start-up listening for TB with AI

AI Diagnostics, a Cape Town-based med-tech company that has built an AI-powered stethoscope designed to detect tuberculosis, recently raised R85-million in a pre-series-A funding round. In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Nkosinathi Ndlovu speaks to the company’s CEO, Braden van Breda, about the funding round and its mission…
4 May 36 min

TCS+ | ‘The ISP for ISPs’: Vox’s shift to wholesale aggregator

Vox, a well-established retail internet service provider is expanding its services to the wholesale market through aggregation. In this episode of TechCentral’s podcast series TCS+, Andre Eksteen, senior product manager for fibre to the business at Vox, discusses the rationale behind this strategy and the services Vox is offering as…
20 Apr 16 min

TCS | Werner Lindemann on how AI is rewriting the infosec rulebook

The pace at which artificial intelligence is reshaping the threat landscape is outstripping the ability of most organisations to defend themselves, with shadow AI, synthetic identity attacks and a looming quantum computing disruption all converging at once. That’s the view of DataGroupIT CEO Werner Lindemann, who joined Duncan McLeod on…
15 Apr 38 min

TCS | Donovan Marsh on AI and the future of filmmaking

Award-winning South African film director Donovan Marsh has pivoted to artificial intelligence filmmaking and believes generative AI tools could fundamentally reshape how movies are made – and who gets to make them. Marsh, whose 30-year career includes directing the Hollywood submarine thriller Hunter Killer starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman,…
7 Apr 52 min