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Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

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Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#31
post #3

The Verge's reviewer didn't like it. I have yet to get my hands on one. It is strongly a "global gestures" UI. Some people like that as a way of enforcing consistency. That will have some possibly confusing effects on Android apps running in Myriad's compatibility environment. Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java byte…

The Jolla UI looks and behaves similar to the Blackberry 10 OS, which is a good thing, and an improvement on Android and iOS. I have a Blackberry Z30[1] and I don't think I could go back to the "old way" of using a smartphone. BB 10 feels like a true smartphone experience, as subjective as that is. [1] http://ca.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-z30.html

Which means it could face the one of the same challenges as BB10 - these global gestures are very demo-unit-unfriendly. You go to a store and pick up a BB10 device and you're freaking lost with no visible buttons or UI to use.

A non-discoverable interface on a device this late to the party is not going to be good for market-share.

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#32
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not overstretching to have great marketing from the outset; it's almost mandatory. Tofu marketing from the get-go (especially on launch day) is a great way to nudge the company into the deadpool. If their financial limits proscribe marketing, their company will be gone and forgotten soon enough when their sales are lackluster and insufficient. Companies, new and established, just can't afford to be conservative…

> It's not overstretching to have great marketing from the outset Your general logic seems to circle around expecting massive sales and huge production mindset (where investment has to be compensated with millions of sales). Jolla has modest expectations for the starting stage, so massive marketing would be an overstretch. But it shouldn't be abysmal either, I agree.

No, it doesn't. My mindset in this case revolves around one thing: convincing people they should buy. Their sales and marketing, from what I've observed today, is so poor it fails to do the only thing it should: sell.

I never said they should grow unsustainably and run out of cash, but my money is on them running out of cash anyway because their marketing is so poor it'll fail to drive the sales they need to keep the lights on. Frankly, supply shortages would be the best thing that could happen to them because scarcity drives demand and perceived value.

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#33
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not overstretching to have great marketing from the outset Your general logic seems to circle around expecting massive sales and huge production mindset (where investment has to be compensated with millions of sales). Jolla has modest expectations for the starting stage, so massive marketing would be an overstretch. But it shouldn't be abysmal either, I agree.

No, it doesn't. My mindset in this case revolves around one thing: convincing people they should buy. Their sales and marketing, from what I've observed today, is so poor it fails to do the only thing it should: sell. I never said they should grow unsustainably and run out of cash, but my money is on them running out of cash anyway because their marketing is so poor it'll fail to drive the sales they need to keep the…

> Their sales and marketing, from what I've observed today, is so poor it fails to do the only thing it should: sell.

How is it exactly, if they were serving all their preorders already? They don't seem to have the lack of demand atm.

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#34
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Jolla UI looks and behaves similar to the Blackberry 10 OS, which is a good thing, and an improvement on Android and iOS. I have a Blackberry Z30[1] and I don't think I could go back to the "old way" of using a smartphone. BB 10 feels like a true smartphone experience, as subjective as that is. [1] http://ca.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-z30.html

Which means it could face the one of the same challenges as BB10 - these global gestures are very demo-unit-unfriendly. You go to a store and pick up a BB10 device and you're freaking lost with no visible buttons or UI to use. A non-discoverable interface on a device this late to the party is not going to be good for market-share.

Fascinating insight. Reminds me of the Pepsi Challenge. In the famous Pepsi vs Coke taste tests[1], people picked Pepsi due to it's favorable first impression - it had a sweeter taste. In reality, most people prefer a less sweet beverage over the course of an entire can.

Maybe BlackBerry should attack the problem the same way Coke did, by conducting a (longer-term) OS interface challenge.

[1]http://www.slate.com/articles/business/rivalries/2013/08/pep...

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#35
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which means it could face the one of the same challenges as BB10 - these global gestures are very demo-unit-unfriendly. You go to a store and pick up a BB10 device and you're freaking lost with no visible buttons or UI to use. A non-discoverable interface on a device this late to the party is not going to be good for market-share.

Fascinating insight. Reminds me of the Pepsi Challenge. In the famous Pepsi vs Coke taste tests[1], people picked Pepsi due to it's favorable first impression - it had a sweeter taste. In reality, most people prefer a less sweet beverage over the course of an entire can. Maybe BlackBerry should attack the problem the same way Coke did, by conducting a (longer-term) OS interface challenge. [1] http://www.slate.com/art…

Just making sure that cellphone vendors use devices properly imaged with a demo-oriented environment that returns to tutorial mode every time it idles would be a big help.

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#36
post #3

The Verge's reviewer didn't like it. I have yet to get my hands on one. It is strongly a "global gestures" UI. Some people like that as a way of enforcing consistency. That will have some possibly confusing effects on Android apps running in Myriad's compatibility environment. Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java byte…

[deleted]

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#37
post #3

The Verge's reviewer didn't like it. I have yet to get my hands on one. It is strongly a "global gestures" UI. Some people like that as a way of enforcing consistency. That will have some possibly confusing effects on Android apps running in Myriad's compatibility environment. Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java byte…

For anyone finding the verge review- http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/11/29/5156446/jolla-smartpho...

> Nonetheless, that group is small whereas the software evolution required is large.

It's also open source and I'm sure they have a lot of goodwill within the community given their history, so that might alleviate the problem somewhat.

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#38
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Jolla UI looks and behaves similar to the Blackberry 10 OS, which is a good thing, and an improvement on Android and iOS. I have a Blackberry Z30[1] and I don't think I could go back to the "old way" of using a smartphone. BB 10 feels like a true smartphone experience, as subjective as that is. [1] http://ca.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-z30.html

Which means it could face the one of the same challenges as BB10 - these global gestures are very demo-unit-unfriendly. You go to a store and pick up a BB10 device and you're freaking lost with no visible buttons or UI to use. A non-discoverable interface on a device this late to the party is not going to be good for market-share.

I remember that was my first experience with the Nokia N9 (spiritual and technical predecessor of the Jolla phone).

At the store, I picked it up, turned it around a few times to confirm that there are indeed no buttons, then tried tapping the screen all over but it stubbornly displayed only a screensaver.

Later someone told me that I was supposed to rapidly tap twice in one place (like a double-click on the mouse) to get to the home screen. Nothing in the unit's physical design or software suggested this.

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#39
I think that one of the revolutionary things on this is the I2C and power connectors available under the cover. It's the start of things becoming modularized. You want IRDA, get the back cover that adds it. You want what's next after NFC? Add it. You want a hardware slide out keyboard? Add it. You want an eInk back like the Yotta phone? Add it. You want a full USB port? Add it. All of those things can be done over i2c.

Random List of i2c components: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/99160-List-of-I2C-...

Spark Fun: https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=i2c&what=produc...

Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe

#40
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it doesn't. My mindset in this case revolves around one thing: convincing people they should buy. Their sales and marketing, from what I've observed today, is so poor it fails to do the only thing it should: sell. I never said they should grow unsustainably and run out of cash, but my money is on them running out of cash anyway because their marketing is so poor it'll fail to drive the sales they need to keep the…

> Their sales and marketing, from what I've observed today, is so poor it fails to do the only thing it should: sell. How is it exactly, if they were serving all their preorders already? They don't seem to have the lack of demand atm.

Exactly, keeping the early adopters happy and getting them to advertise their product for them is much more important. And regarding that: even the otherwise sceptical review by The Verge praised their interaction with the people who bought a Jolla.
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