As it became known to "Kommersant", the company "Open mobile platform» (OMP) of the founder of ESN Grigory Berezkin agreed to create three versions of smartphones on the version of the mobile operating system sailfish. Until the end of the year, devices from Oysters and Jolla running Sailfish Mobile OS RUS, as well as an industrial smartphone "Ermak OMP" for corporate users and the public sector, will go on sale in the Russian market.
OMP applied for the inclusion of its mobile operating system Sailfish Mobile OS RUS in the register of domestic software, data of the register of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications testify. According to the official website of the company at omprussia.ru, which is indicated in the application, three smartphones running Sailfish Mobile OS RUS will soon appear on the market - smartphones from Oysters and Jolla, as well as an industrial smartphone "Ermak OMP", intended for corporate users and being developed by Mobile Inform Group.
“We see our mission in making a mass product. The Jolla C smartphone based on Sailfish OS can already be bought in Europe, and its version on Sailfish Mobile OS RUS will go on sale before the end of the year. Around the same time, the Oysters smartphone will appear on the Russian version of Sailfish, now we are negotiating with the company regarding the necessary specifications devices," Pavel Eiges, general director of OMP, told Kommersant. According to him, Mobile Inform Group is already preparing to release the Yermak OMP smartphone for corporate users. “We understand that we are going completely busy market, which is dominated by two operating systems, but we believe that there are empty niches,” says Mr. Eiges.
Sailfish OS is an operating system with elements of open source code, which has been developed since 2012 by the Finnish company Jolla (created by people from Nokia), one of whose shareholders is the ESN group. Open Mobile Platform - CR LLC was registered in March in Innopolis. Initially, the company through Votron LLC was owned by the founder of the ESN group Grigory Berezkin (80%) and the former general director of the ESN Mikhail Verozub (20%), follows from SPARK-Interfax data. On this moment an 80% share was transferred from Grigory Berezkin to Olga Berezkina.
The Jolla C smartphone running Sailfish 2.0 OS was introduced in May. It is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 quad-core processor with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, 5 inch screen and 2500 mAh battery. Its price is €169. Oysters representative Mikhail Turkov confirmed to Kommersant that a couple of months ago the company began “close cooperation” with OMP and is going to release a smartphone on the version of the mobile OS they are developing.
Industrial smartphone "Ermak OMP" is being developed Russian company Mobile Inform Group (MIG), according to its website. According to SPARK-Interfax, M-Infogroup LLC is 34% owned by the CEO of the CDC group of companies Hussein Az-zari, 22% are owned by MIG CEO Konstantin Mantsvetov and Oleg Rozhentsev, the remaining 22% are owned by Advanced Mobility Solutions LLC ", which is also owned by Konstantin Mantsvetov and others individuals. Yermak OMP will run on a 2-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8960 processor with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory, a 3450 mAh battery, and a 4.5-inch display. “The device will work with all types of RFID tags, bar codes and data transmission via open and encrypted communication channels. The smartphone is built specifically for intensive multi-year operation,” the company’s website says. The customer service manager said that the price of the device, depending on the configuration, will be $ 1.5-2 thousand. MIG CEO Konstantin Mantsvetov adds that the choice of OS for Yermak OMP was due to its openness for improvements and customization for corporate clients, smartphone production will be established on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Developments of the first Russian smartphone YotaPhone has been in production since 2010, the first version of the device went on sale at the end of 2013, the second - at the end of 2014. By the end of 2015, YotaPhone manufacturer Yota Devices sold only 96,000 smartphones. Until recently, 64.9% of Yota Devices belonged to Sergey Adoniev and Albert Avdolyan's Telconet Capital Ltd fund, 25.1% - to Rostec, 10% - to MTH head of Yota Devices Vladislav Martynov. However, in the spring of this year, 30% of Yota Devices from Telconet was bought by the Chinese Rex Global Entertainment Holdings Ltd (later renamed China Baoli Technologies Holdings Ltd).
Representatives of M.Video, Euroset and Svyaznoy told Kommersant that they had not received offers to sell devices on the Russian version of Sailfish. “The popularization of a new mobile OS will depend not only on its characteristics, but also on the development mobile applications based on it. At the initial stage, devices with the new OS may be of interest to experts, fans of technical innovations,” M.Video notes. Svyaznoy agrees that "the appearance of such models will arouse some interest among those who like to be the first to test technological innovations, but you need to understand that this audience is quite narrow." “It is unlikely that this product will meet the consumer's interest,” a representative of Euroset is skeptical, noting not only the new OS, but also the small diagonal of device screens. In his opinion, "it's hard to believe that in this market, in principle, you can make some kind of competition to iOS and Android."
Maria Kolomychenko, Anna Balashova
State operator Rostelecom filed a petition with the Federal Antimonopoly Service for the purchase of shares in the Open Mobile Platform and Votron companies developing the Sailfish mobile operating system. The purpose of the deal for both parties is to stake on import substitution
Grigory Berezkin (Photo: Vladimir Smirnov / TASS)
Rostelecom has filed a petition with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) for the purchase of 75% stakes in the Open Mobile Platform and Votron companies. This was told to RBC by a source close to one of the parties to the transaction, and confirmed by a representative of the FAS. The interlocutor of RBC in the department specified that the application was received last Friday, February 2, the planned consideration period is a month (but it can be extended for another two).
"Open Mobile Platform" is the developer of the domestic mobile operating system Sailfish Mobile OS Rus, created on the basis of the open source Sailfish operating system. source code. The Votron company owns a majority stake in the Finnish company Jolla, the developer of Sailfish and mobile devices under your own brand. The controlling shareholder of both companies is directly or indirectly the owner of the ESN group Grigory Berezkin.
Who owns Sailfish
According to SPARK, 100% of the Open Mobile Platform is now owned by the Open Mobile Platform-CR company, which, in turn, is 80% owned by Berezkin's sister, Olga Berezkina, and another 20% by the former ESN CEO Mikhail Verozub. As the owner of 100% of Votron, the Rusintekh company is listed, in which 80% is owned directly by Grigory Berezkin, 20% by Verozub. Neither Open Mobile Platform nor Votron disclose financial figures.
Rostelecom spokesman Andrey Polyakov declined to comment on a possible purchase of companies developing Sailfish. So did the representative of the ESN group, Marianna Belousova, and the CEO of the Open Mobile Platform, Pavel Eiges.
For the first time that Grigory Berezkin is negotiating the sale of the Sailfish mobile operating system to Rostelecom, Vedomosti reported in April 2017, citing its sources. According to the interlocutors of the newspaper, the businessman estimated the entire asset at $50 million. In July last year, Rostelecom for 3.2 million rubles. ordered an audit of development processes and Sailfish software from its subsidiary Sputnik, Vedomosti wrote. The companies themselves have not yet commented on the negotiations.
Operating system with state participation
The main manufacturers of mobile operating systems, which are used, among other things, by Russian government agencies, have been the American companies Apple for many years ( iOS system), Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows Phone). Sailfish Mobile OS Rus is so far the only mobile operating system that is currently included in the Unified Register of Domestic Software. Government agencies must purchase products from this register on a priority basis (unless it is proven that there is no domestic equivalent).
The Sailfish solution, in particular, is used by Russian Post: since 2017, the operator has been introducing mobile fiscal registrars and mobile postal cash terminals running on the Sailfish Mobile OS Rus platform. At the moment, 15 thousand smartphones are being delivered to Sailfish with pre-installed applications that allow you to accept payments for housing and communal services, communication services, arrange insurance, pay loans, etc. at clients' homes. The amount of the contract with Russian Post is 171.1 million rubles.
Last fall, RSPP President Alexander Shokhin sent a letter to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev proposing to allow businesses to print checks not only with cash registers but also from cheaper mobile devices. Such a device will have to work on a domestic operating system included in the register of Russian software. “In the future, the Sailfish operating system can be used in mobile online cash registers,” a RBC source close to one of the parties to the transaction admitted.
As Eiges told Vedomosti earlier, the demand from government agencies could be about 5 million smartphones and tablets with Sailfish solutions. About 10 million more such devices, according to him, may be in demand in the corporate segment.
Rostelecom is actively cooperating with the state in the field of import substitution in the field of telecommunications and IT, so it is quite logical that the operator is interested in such assets,” says Konstantin Belov, Senior Analyst at FC Uralsib. Rostelecom's traditional business of fixed telephony, long-distance and international communications has been declining for several years in a row. The operator tried to compensate for the loss of income by providing broadband Internet access and pay TV services, but these segments will soon approach saturation, so the company is looking for new growth points. According to the results of the third quarter of 2017 (latest data), the share of traditional services in Rostelecom's revenue was 63% against 66% of the same period in 2016.
Otkritie Broker analyst Timur Nigmatullin believes that Rostelecom wants to diversify its business by developing the digital segment. However, he is confident that with the acquisition of Sailfish, the operator is unlikely to enter the mass market of mobile operating systems and will compete with Apple iOS and Google Android. “We are talking more about government orders, this will not become a significant part of the operator’s business,” the analyst says.
Officially announced the acquisition of a 75 percent stake in Open Mobile Platform LLC (OMP) and Votron LLC, which are working on the operating system sailfish. Both companies are directly or indirectly owned by the founder of the group UST billionaire Grigory Berezkin.
The companies decided not to disclose the amount of the transaction, but it is noted that the cost will be determined "based on the report of an independent appraiser", and it should not be higher than the market price. In April 2017 the newspaper Vedomosti citing her sources, she wrote that the seller of the companies estimated the entire asset at 50 million dollars.
| This transaction corresponds to our strategy on formation for our customers of the complex offer with a full range of digital services, - the president of Rostelecom says Mikhail Oseevsky. - The mobile operating system organically complements our product offer, and we hope that it will become topical solution to create a corporate smartphone that provides all the necessary functions, including communication, mail, document management, cloud services, etc. Sailfish Mobile OS RUS is unique in that it is the only mobile operating system on the market that can be fully localized. |
Rostelecom adds that the purchase of the Sailfish Mobile OS RUS operating system will expand the operator's capabilities in promoting integrated solutions for various customers.
Harman Connected Services, as a software development partner of OMP, will participate in the development of the ecosystem for Sailfish Mobile OS RUS. The technical competencies of the Harman Connected Services team will increase the quality and speed of the emergence of new innovative technologies and applications for Sailfish Mobile OS RUS users.
Rostelecom filed an application with the Federal Antimonopoly Service for the purchase of weapons of mass destruction
In February 2018, it became known about the plans Rostelecom for the acquisition of the Open Mobile Platform (OMP). The purpose of the companies' deal is called the import substitution rate.
RBC notes that Rostelecom's traditional business of fixed telephony, long-distance and international communications has been declining for several years in a row. The operator tried to compensate for the loss of income by providing broadband Internet access and pay TV services, but these segments are close to saturation, so the company is looking for new growth points, which, in particular, it sees in Sailfish mobile OS developers.
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