I've gotta admit, I second this thought. But these guys came out of Nokia; I would imagine they already had a good understanding of what it takes to interact with mobile device manufacturers, and a good understanding of how Android is marketed to them. They saw an opportunity to slip into that world with an alternative OS, and I'm sure they spent every effort to do so.

They were putting enormous amounts of effort and resources into their software. I think the only company that has succeeded in doing that, without focussing on licensing their product to other hardware companies, is Apple. And I really don't think the world needs another Apple...

The margins in direct-to-consumer electronics is (again, other than for Apple) ridiculously thin. Jolla would really not have been able to be the company it was if it was marketing directly to end-users. (Although I don't think that would have been so bad myself...)