Last month I promised to publish an article about Sailfish OS, the only alternative to dominating mobile operating systems such as Apple and Google. I have the time now, so I am publishing the first part of the article. In this article, you will get a chance to understand what Sailfish OS is and why we need alternatives in Apple’s and Google’s mobile worlds.

What’s Sailfish OS?

As stated on Sailfish’s website:

Sailfish OS is a European alternative to dominating mobile operating systems and the only mobile OS offering an exclusive licensing model for local implementations.

On the market since 2013 and now already in its 4th generation, Sailfish OS offers a secure platform for trusted mobile solutions. With Sailfish OS, you can run Android™ apps with our dedicated App Support solution.

Jolla Ltd. is a Finnish company based in Helsinki and Tampere. Nokia and MeeGo refugees established the company in 2011. In 2013 they delivered the first Sailfish OS version (beta). The current version I am using on my Sony phone is Sailfish OS 4.

Now let’s get to the point:

1. Sailfish OS isn’t an iOS or Android derivative.
2. Jolla’s product is European and the only mobile OS made in Europe.
3. It’s the only functional and easily attainable Linux-based OS. 
4. It has many security, and privacy features out of the box, so there is no tracking or collecting of your data.

How to Get Sailfish OS?

It all starts with a Sony phone. As stated on Jolla’s website:

Sailfish X is currently available for Sony Xperia 10 III, Xperia 10 II, Xperia 10, Xperia 10 Plus, single and dual-SIM variants of Sony Xperia XA2, Xperia XA2 Plus, Xperia XA2 Ultra, Sony Xperia X, and Gemini PDA.

I bought Sony Xperia 10 at a reasonable discount rate. However, you must purchase a Sailfish X license from Jolla once obtained. I paid a 49.90€ license fee.

As described on Jolla’s website:

With the price you get a fully supported commercial version of Sailfish OS that includes commercial components like Android App Support, and MS Exchange support for your Xperia device. You also get support and updates for your OS from Jolla, and you can support the Sailfish OS development. The Gemini PDA version does not include Android App Support. Jolla has invested a lot of time and money for the development of Sailfish OS. Supporting a release officially is also a significant cost and there are licensing costs that Jolla needs to cover when distributing commercial components of Sailfish OS.

A trial version of Sailfish OS exists so that you can try it. However, lots of things will be missing. Therefore, I highly encourage you to pay and support European developers.

With a phone and license in place, the most challenging part awaits. You need to flash your Sony device and install Sailfish OS. Again, Jolla provides tutorials on how to do it. It can be daunting for beginners, but persistence is crucial.

I want to share one caveat of this process. Once the device gets flashed, you are on your own. Your warranty gets voided, and every time you power on a Sony phone, you get an annoying warning about an unlocked bootloader. Even if you go back to Android, the pop-up will continue appearing, and some apps, such as banking, will not work.

In the text above, I presented the essential facts of Sailfish OS. I hope it piqued your curiosity. If you want to learn more, Jolla produced an excellent whitepaper for those interested in Sailfish OS. You can find it here.

Why Do We Need Alternatives?

Let’s wrap up this article by explaining why we want to see more mobile os alternatives in the market. It all starts with Apple and Google duopoly that is detrimental to innovation and growth.

Last summer, The UK’s competition watchdog published its final report on the mobile ecosystem study, and the results raised concern about Apple and Google’s power in mobile markets. The government’s investigation puts some weight on a duopoly claim.

I will quote a few passages from the report. 

This one is about Apple:

We have also found specific examples of potentially disruptive innovations (such as cloud gaming) being held back by the restrictions imposed by Apple, as well as hearing other concerns about practices that could reduce incentives to invest in improving products and developing new ones.

There are also several areas within mobile ecosystems where user experiences are degraded as a result of weak competition. For example, we have heard numerous concerns about how Apple’s WebKit restriction limits the potential quality of all browsers and availability of new features.

This one is about Google:

In combination, our findings on Apple’s and Google’s market power and financial performance indicate that there is room for greater and more effective competition. In the case of Apple’s mobile devices, both firms’ app stores, and Google’s search advertising services, the prices charged are all above a competitive rate.

And this is just the beginning of a long list of grievances from the government and the people. You will find practical cases of the issue if you read a report.

From my perspective, Google and Apple are not supervillains. On the contrary, they brought us disruptive technology such as Google Search and iPhone. However, today, their products are stagnant. Therefore, you are either Apple or Google person.

Every year you get a new OS version, a few cosmetic tweaks, and that’s about it. There is no excitement left. As a result, Apple and Google leave customers with things that are not great, not terrible.

So when you see something different such as Sailfish OS, you appreciate the diversity. The hope is that the duopoly will crumble in the future, and we, as consumers, will have more choices.

That wraps up the first part of the Sailfish OS article series. In the following article, I will discuss my experience using Sailfish OS as a daily driver. See you soon.