Jolla Sends Out Press Invites To May 20 “Love Day” Event As It Gears Up To Unveil First Sailfish Handset

Finnish MeeGo startup Jolla has been trailing the launch of its first handset ever since it started work on its Sailfish UI back in 2012, carrying the MeeGo torch out of Nokia to keep the fires burning. Since then, Jolla has shown off its MeeGo-based Sailfish software and released an SDK but kept its hardware plans tightly under wraps. That’s set to change very soon though, judging by a press invite sent out today, to an event it’s calling “Jolla Love Day” on May 20, in Helsinki Finland.
The invite reads: “We are super excited to welcome you to hear about Jolla’s next steps and get a sneak preview of what is yet to come”.
Last month Jolla confirmed it planned to show off its first phone handset in May — so that’s the leading candidate for unboxing at the Love Day. The company has also recently rotated its CEO position again, naming Tomi Pienimäki as the new CEO on May 6, and moving prior CEO Marc Dillon to a full-time Head of Software Development role for Sailfish. Last year Jolla moved Dillon into the CEO role, and former CEO Jussi Hurmola onto strategy and the Jolla board.
Pienimäki joined Jolla from regional logistics operator Itella Corporation, doubtless bringing with him the supply chain/distribution expertise the startup feels is required as it gears up to start shipping its first run of hardware.
The Love Day invite notes there will be opportunities to interview “Jolla leaders” and a party for “Jolla friends”. There’s also a cryptic graphic in the corner, noting “I am the other half”.
Also last month the startup confirmed it planned to kick off a pre-sales campaign to take payments from fans who want to buy Jolla’s first phone when it’s released — due in the second half of this year.