I wanted to buy your new Jolla Phone for 499€ to support you. But when I found out that after 1 year I have to pay 5€/month for Android Support and updates, while a Sailfish X license for a Sony Xperia 10 III is 49.90€ FOREVER, I was shocked.
This makes no sense:
I buy YOUR hardware = I get punished with a subscription
I buy someone else’s Sony = I get rewarded with a lifetime license
You are punishing the people who want to support you the most.
Android support is a must-have for me, and because of this subscription model I will NOT buy your new phone. I will stay on Xperia with the one-time license, even though I would prefer your phone with the privacy kill-switch.
Please reconsider this. You will lose customers like me.
Wait, what do you mean? When we buy a Jolla phone, are we going to have to pay something every month? I don’t think so, dude. I think the subscription you’re talking about was the old system. You pay €25 and then you don’t need to pay again.
I don’t know where you got your info, but non of the numbers were right and tgere isn’t any subscription needed for Jolla phone. Currently Jolla phone ia 649€/749€. License for Xperia is 25€. And like I said, no subscription model what so ever for Jolla phone
What could have been confusing to the user is that it says somewhere the phone “comes with 1 year included subscription”. So users might expect a subscription is needed. This was about the C2, but maybe the J2 has similar wording somewhere.
What happens when the subscription ends?
Jolla is playing on multiple levels, they made the subscription voluntary (optional) but are hoping enough of the new users will choose to keep a subscription so to get steady revenue. But that was when the phone was supposed to sell 2000 to long-time supporters (more keen to make the voluntary subscription/donation), but it sold 15,500 so they made more money and the situation is different.
EDIT: The subscription model had to do with the C2 only and not with the J2 / JP / JP2 / JP2601 / Jolla Phone (2026).
The subscription model was only mentioned with the C2, at a time when members of the community wanted to find ways to help fund Jolla.
The last ‘on sale’ release had been for the Xperia 10 iii, and the subsequent iv and v ports weren’t at a level that Jolla felt they could charge for (and are still available for free as of today).
Those ports cost Jolla money to produce as does everything else, and the community were rightly concerned about their income streams and so the idea of subscription was brought up.
When the C2 was released, there was push back from other members who did not want a subscription model so Jolla relented, and dropped it from the C2, but left the voluntary subscription option up in their store as a method for people to donate, should they desire.
It should be noted there are legal reasons why they have to describe it as a subscription, you can’t just walk up to Jolla and hand them €10 in the street.
I have NEVER seen the word subscription mentioned in conjunction with the JP.
to be fair, Jolla made this mess on the floor and will have to deal with it whenever people walk across it. they created the confusion out of the desire to get some sweet subscription revenue, and were then forced to walk it back due to the community ethos of buying a product and not renting a service.
n.b. i have nothing against the voluntary subscription, but what it has morphed into now is not what originally wanted by Jolla, and we’re witnessing here the confusion that dislocation in purpose caused years later now.
As @rgp noted I haven’t either never seen subscription model spoken related to J2. I think the OP has used AI to learn about the matter and for AI C2 and Jolla phone might be two and same thing. Although the subscription doesn’t even relate to C2 in reality.
But I agree, in case there would have some mention somewhere for Jolla phone related to subscription model that would have been confusing. But I have not seen any that kind of mentions anywhere
that fact that it was discussed in community meetings speaks nothing to the fact that Jolla introduced a subscription model that ultimately the community rejected.
It’s not just that. It’s an achievement how you can manage to get every single thing wrong. From price to where it applies etc.
Imagine if the subscription plan went forward and you had to explain to him that he could pay one month and still have everything forever. And maybe pay again a month after 1-2 years where there would be a version update in AAS.
All that aside, not understanding is fine even if things are obvious.
But coming here with this attitude like anyone cares if he would buy the phone, I just can’t explain.
The situation with the website is confusing. 1. There is “store” vs. “commerce”. 2. The Voluntary Subscription is still present on commerce, even though we now claim it is obsolete.
The screenshot below is confusing, and seems to imply the subscription is necessary for the OS to function.
The history of the question (and its account on the forum) is confusing. I was confused as well whether this was only the C2 or the J2 as well. Some people above discussed whether the idea was Jolla, was the community, whether it is already obsolete.
From all that I understand a newcomer can get it wrong. And when things become irritating, spend time to formulate an elaborated rationale for discussion on the public forum. I appreciate the OP did that.
I wish Jolla could 1) clarify better on commerce.jolla.com that the Subscription is not required for the Jolla phones to work indefinitely, and 2) add on commerce.jolla.org an item “SailfishOS for Sony Xperia” that redirects to store.jolla.com.
It’s true that the subscription model info is a bit confusing at best. Ultimately I guess what was the final nail in the coffin for the once proposed OS subscription model is that since last year (I think) there is EU regulation which mandates smartphone vendors to provide software updates for several years. I think the voluntary subscription is a good compromise for those of us who want to support the continued work on the OS.
