Quite possibly so. And the Asha's browser connects to NOKIA's (presumably now Microsoft's) servers never directly to the end point. Even if it appears you are connected via https your data is actually unencrypted on their servers.

I think Jolla have a very good chance of success licensing Sailfish OS in China, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East and probably even Europe. The fact they are not North American is a very big selling point for them.

If they make Sailfish OS completely open source and they offer a good service including handling the integration of carrier services, OTA updates etc... they could have a very appealing package.