Sailfishos, the alternative to Android of Europe that could give autonomy in the face of US and China systems

Geopolitics has gained a renewed impulse since the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House for his second term. The oscillations that it has caused in politics and economics have felt throughout the world, and Spain has not fought from them. It is possibly in Europe where more changes will be seen, because It has gone from seeing the United States as a strong ally A, hopefully, a neutral entity, When not hostile.

This has been verified at the military, economic or international relations, and it is a matter of time that, if things do not change, it is also seen security level. And that is where the relations of the different countries enter with the great American digital corporations that dominate around the worldexcept in China.

As for mobiles, Android and iOS are the most used operating systems worldwideand both are from the United States. This can be a long -term problem if relations between the American country and the European continent are not restored, something that seems difficult. Thus, some are beginning to ask if there should be no alternative to these systems, a European. The point is that it already exists, it is a system called Sailfishos.

Sailfish’s origin

Although in 2025 the idea of ​​creating an operating system that competes with Android and iOS (although Huawei is in it) is unthinkable, a decade and a half ago there were many open options. There was Webos, Firefoxos and Nokia had two options, Symbian and Maemo in its catalog. The latter was called to be the future of the company, although it was something complex.

Therefore, in 2011 he allied with Intel to create Meego, joining maemo with Moblina system created by the American company. The idea was to create an operating system that could be an alternative to what Google and Apple did, and not depend on those companies. Nokia would benefit through the sale of devices and Intel for the sale of components to manufacture these devices.

The problem is that Nokia’s commitment to Meego was scarceand shortly after I was putting all the eggs in the Windows Phone basket. Thus, the workers of that division decided to continue the project with their own company, called Jolla. Meego would become sailfishos.

Android compatibility

In 2013 the project grew and added one of the most important functions in its history: Compatibility with both the processors used by Android mobile manufacturersso that opting for sailfishos was not a problem, and Compatibility with the apps of this systemso that developers did not have to convert the code of their apps. They knew that if they depended on that it would be impossible to create an alternative.

Currently the project continues, having been for example in the MWC 2025 from Barcelonawhere they have even shown a computer with their operating system. This system is designed to be used not only on smartphones, but also on tablets, watches, televisions and other devices. In this way, it is raised as a real option as a complete ecosystem.

Own governance

But the key of Sailfishos is not that it is better or worse as an operating system, that it has more or less functions, beyond that it is a fully usable system, of course. The key is that it is a European systemwith what that implies. The non -dependence of companies outside the continent is key if what you want is not to depend on the decisions of foreign governments.

What happened to Huawei with Google could well happen to European companiesalthough it seems something scandalous. It also seemed that when the Trump administration established the veto to Huawei it would be a matter of days to get up and the company could continue to operate normally. It has not been so.

This situation is possible because practically the entire development of digital technology used in Europe comes from the United States. From social networks to operating systems, through streaming platforms … what Silicon Valley has achieved worldwide is impressive, and it seems that only China, and to a lesser extent India and other countries, seem to want to fight against it. Europe believed that it would not be necessary, that they were on the side of the United States, but seen what was seen in recent months It does not seem crazy to start raising oligopoly alternatives that have companies such as Apple, Alphabet, Meta or Microsoft in our continent.

The future is the AI

Finally, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are in a moment of change, as happened at the end of the last century of local computing to the end of the end of the 10s with the passage of computers to smartphones. We are currently beginning to glimpse what will be the era of artificial intelligence, and the system in which that AI will be executed will also.

The United States and China are competing for this new technology, and will be implemented in their mobiles, because until the massive arrival of augmented reality glasses, these will continue to be the devices of greater reach. And having a system capable of executing language models, which can run in different devices, and that develops in Europe, is not something lower.