In Russia, a niche group of approximately 300 users actively operates on R-FON smartphones. This figure comes from Oleg Karpitsky, the General Director of the Rosa IT Center, the team behind the Rosa Mobile operating system created for R-FON devices, speaking to socialbites.ca.
“Today, the user base for R-FON devices sits at several hundred people, close to three hundred in total. All of them are employees of our organization or contractors working on related projects. Put differently, this is our sizeable beta testing cohort, the core group testing Rosa Mobile in real-world conditions,” Karpitsky explained.
He noted that Rosa Mobile is already prepared for final deployment. With the company’s formation complete, the remaining steps focus on establishing reliable supply channels, building a robust support service, and systematically collecting user feedback to refine the product experience.
“We are engaging with numerous large clients who plan to start receiving the first small R-FON batches for pilot initiatives in early 2024. The outcomes of those pilots will inform decisions about the scale of future purchases and broader adoption,” he added.
Karpitsky projects a notable expansion of R-FON’s user base by the end of the following year, aiming for a reach of roughly 300,000 to 400,000 users. The predicted growth will predominantly involve corporate entities and public sector organizations seeking secure, localized technology solutions.
R-FON is a Russian smartphone powered by the Rosa Mobile operating system, officially released on December 18, 2023. The device features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with FullHD+ resolution, a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, and 8 GB of RAM, delivering a balance of performance and efficiency for enterprise environments.
In related industry news, Honor introduced a more affordable smartphone with an iPhone-style screen cutout, illustrating ongoing competition and feature innovation in the budget to mid-range segment.