Soooo... What do folks here expect to be the "next time"?

To my mind, Jolla was just about the optimal case for creating a new mobile OS, independent from the big guys. They started with a group of folks with deep expertise in mobile operating systems; they were able to build on the existing Mer infrastructure; they had a decent amount of startup funding; and they were explicitly following the trail already blazed by Google, by offering to license their OS on devices built by other manufacturers.

The concept looked _great_ to me!

So, what exactly are people supposed to learn from this experience?

My guess would be:

a) Manufacturers of mobile devices are now loathe to experiment with new OSs. Maybe Google's path is now dead; Samsung is playing around with Tizen, but that's probably because they want an OS that is completely controlled in-house. The Ubuntu phone is interesting, but doesn't seem to be aimed directly at challenging Android; they don't seem to be trying to license the OS to major manufacturers...

b) Openness doesn't give you an advantage. Apparently you don't need to be more open than Android; many, many more people seem willing to root an Android device, install CM, and develop their software on that, than to do anything with (say) a build of Mer or Sailfish, or something else not tied directly to Android.

I just don't see anybody examining this experience and saying: "We need to be more open! We need to get our OS onto more devices!" That just doesn't work. It'll be the opposite -- "We need to tie our software more closely to our hardware!" I mean, Apple certainly isn't hurting by following this strategy. I'm guessing Android itself will be slowly retreating, as more manufacturers switch to OSs built totally in-house...