Intex to introduce 4G smartphone with Sailfish OS in Nov

The smartphone will be in the sub-10k range

Intex Technologies will come out with a 4G smartphone in November powered by Finland-based Jolla's Sailfish operating system.

This will be in the sub-10K price range.

The home-grown mobile handset player today tied up with Jolla, becoming the first licensing partner for the operating system (OS).

"We plan to launch the first Sailfish device in November. It will be 4G-enabled and will come under the sub-10K price range," Intex Technologies Head, Mobile Business, Sanjay Kalirona said at the Mobile World Congress here.

Jolla, founded in 2011 by ex-Nokia employees, is the developer of Sailfish, which is an independent OS based on MeeGo platform, developed by Nokia and Intel. The first smartphone on MeeGo platform came out in 2007.

Nokia later in 2011 shelved the MeeGo platform and launched phones based on Windows.

The first Sailfish OS mobile product, the Jolla Smartphone, was introduced in November 2013.

"In our BRICS country strategy, we have been proceeding fastest in India, which is one the most important markets in the future of mobiles. We have seen a lot of interest among Indian mobile device manufacturers and operators, and they are all very keen to work with an alternative to the currently dominating mobile operating systems," Executive Chairman of Jolla, Antti Saarnio said.

The Sailfish OS also supports Android applications.

"With an open platform like Sailfish OS, we have a magnificent opportunity to offer great locally relevant premium content to our customers, all integrated directly into the smartphone's operating system," Kalirona said.