14 DAY TRIAL // The majority of mobile devices launched on the market these days basically fall under two categories: they either come with Android or iOS out of the box. Surely, there are also other alternatives like Microsoft’s Windows Phone or Samsung’s Tizen OS, but these options fade away when confronted with the big boys.
The Russian government has been pretty vocal about its stance against Google’s and Apple’s domination of the mobile environment, and today we get word that the country might soon be developing an independent mobile operating system for their own usage.
According to local news outlet RBC, Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov is said to be in talks with Finnish company Jolla about the possible development of an “independent” smartphone OS that’s supposedly going to be based on Sailfish OS.
Will government official convince the average folks in Russia to use the OS?
The Russian Minister is hoping that, if the negotiations turn out to be successful, foreign operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry will not continue to make up the majority of the Russian mobile environment in the next decade or so.
Back in February, Nikiforov took to Twitter to denounce Google, accusing the search giant of holding monopoly over the mobile environment with its Android platform.
More than that, the politician was heard voicing his opinion that Android was not really an open-source operating system and that people’s attention should turn towards platforms like Tizen, Sailfish, and Ubuntu.
A few months ago, we also told you that Russia was seemingly willing to pay big bucks in order to convince developers to migrate their apps to open-source platforms like the ones listed above.
The Minister himself said the Russian government was looking to give grants to developers interested in creating applications compatible with other mobile operating systems.
Going back to the current piece of news, Nikiforov reveals that the new mobile OS will be a joint partnership between Finland, China and Russia. Even so, it is expected that Brazil, India and South Africa will join forces and participate in this project, too.
The Russian official didn't divulge the exact name of the new mobile platform, but he said the upcoming OS would be a different product altogether, separate from Jolla’s current Sailfish OS.