Usability is a fundamental product quality characteristic and one of the most important factors in the success of a software product. This Master’s Thesis is a case study of a smartphone startup Jolla Ltd. and explores the usability of Jolla’s Sailfish operating system.

Jolla smartphone, the first unveiled device is powered by the Sailfish operating system, which introduces new gestures and is built to optimize users’ experience by less taps and finger moves. Consistent understanding and analysis of user experience in managing user interface paradigm is critical for Jolla Ltd. Thus the study explored the usability of the Sailfish operating system and identified the unique advantages of Jolla smartphone in terms of usability from the users’ point of view.

The framework of this research was based on an overview of the best-documented practices of usability concept and its evaluation methods. The empirical part of the study included ten one-on-one sessions with Jolla owners and potential Jolla buyers. These sessions consisted of questionnaires, interviews and test tasks.

The research findings were grouped to enable an analysis on the following main subjects: product insights, usability of Sailfish operating system, users’ expectations in terms of usability and experience in using applications. The unique advantages of Jolla were identified based on the opinions of the case study participants.

The study resulted in an analysis of the above-mentioned findings and practical recommendations such as: (1) optimizing startup wizard, (2) enabling different modes for advanced and new users, (3) implementing a “back” button gesture and task completed notification and identifying a new target group.