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The compatibility with Android apps mitigates this to some extent.

But gives them the OS/2 problem. Nobody wrote native apps because it could run Windows 3.x software.

Nobody would have bought OS/2 without any compatibility

Right. With a market this thoroughly dominated by other players, you have three options:

1. Be compatible with their software (and nobody will write anything native) 2. Don't be compatible with their software (and nobody will use your OS) 3. Be really amazing and marketed perfectly so that you can build your own ecosystem.

Unfortunately, 3 is much harder to do than the first two.

It seems like Jolla is going for a combination of #1 and #3. They're aiming to be compatible with existing Android hardware, they've made it easy to preview their OS on existing devices without making the switch outright, and they're targeting select countries first so that they can use their momentum to move into other countries (rather than overextending their reach from day one).

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