Feb 19
The first Ubuntu phones will be launched later in 2014 by Meizu and bq, Canonical has confirmed, along with an unspecified number of carriers also keen to get the new … Continue reading
Feb 19
Ubuntu will sell pre-loaded on smartphone hardware, despite the failure last year of the incredibly ambitious Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign. The company detailed plans today (via TheNextWeb) to ship Ubuntu-based smartphones later this year, via hardware partners including Spain’s bq and China’s Meizu.
Ubuntu isn’t talking specifics yet, so don’t expect specs, but the company did reveal in a statement that initial devices will focus on “mid to high-end hardware,” so these won’t be the budget devices you might expect from an upstart mobile OS looking to compete in a crowded smartphone market. Given that the software maker originally wanted to launch the ultra premium Edge for an ultra premium price ($600 for ‘early’ backers), not immediately going after the entry-level market makes a lot of sense.
Calling Ubuntu’s efforts to crack the mobile market an uphill battle would be an understatement: Existing examples of latecomers who’ve tried to make a dent don’t inspire much confidence, with Firefox OS being the most noteworthy example that comes to mind. Mozilla’s project did focus on entry-level devices, however, which could provide another clue as to why Canonical won’t start off with that strategy.
Canonical’s differentiation strategy is to make content and services the central focus of the UI, rather than hiding them in siloed apps that each serve a different purpose. Still, Canonical hopes to have the top 50 apps available at launch, including Evernote, Grooveshark and Weather Channel to start. The company is also working with a Carrier Advisory Group formed out of the Edge campaign, which includes Vodafone, EE, T-Mobile, Verizon, Deutsche Telecom and many more.
Jan 08
The folks at Canonical are working hard to bring Ubuntu to smartphones. They have already released a beta build of the firmware for supported Android devices, while the company is actively working to bring OEMs on board who will partner up to release Ubuntu OS powered smartphones. Canonical tried getting in on the manufacturing game itself with the crowdfunded Ubuntu Edge smartphone, however it wasn’t able to reach its $32 million goal. The company’s founder recently confirmed that a high-end Ubuntu phone will be released in 2014 from a popular manufacturer and Canonical community manager Jono Bacon has dropped a hint that goes further than just one high-end device.
Bacon says that he is confident that a number of Ubuntu phones are going to be released in the market this year, while he says that he can’t exactly reveal the details, Bacon boasts that “awesome things are happening.” He said that different OEMs and different carriers are showing interest, and that some Ubuntu phones will be exclusive to certain markets and carriers. Some of these devices will also be available for sale online so customers who don’t want to get tied down to a service contract will be taken care of. Canonical is pretty tightlipped about the OEMs it is going to work with and the specifications the smartphones will tout. It is yet to provide a concrete release timeframe in which the first Ubuntu powered phone will hit the market.
Ubuntu Phones To Be Released By Multiple OEMs This Year original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 11
The days of Canonical‘s mobile operating system, dubbed Ubuntu Touch, are rapidly upon us. In October, an image of Ubuntu Touch was released along with the 13.10 version of the desktop OS. Fast-forward a couple more months, and Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth has revealed the company has penned an agreement with its first — and yet […]
Nov 22
Canonical’s been working for years to turn Ubuntu into a universal OS for whatever sized screen you use, be it of the television, desktop or mobile variety. Recently, the company showed off the next step in this evolution: unified icon designs for mobile and desktop Ubuntu implementations. In keeping with current UI trends, the new icons have flatter, more stylized appearance when compared to the old desktop iconography. System tiles are less colorful and more reserved in appearance, while apps and folders have been punched up with a flashier look to set them apart visually. Of course, the new icons won’t actually make their way into a Ubuntu for awhile, as the goal is to get them into the 14.04 release for mobile (13.10 is the current version). Should you want more background on the production of the new icons, there’s an hour-long video discussing it after the break. Don’t forget the popcorn.
Source: OMG! Ubuntu!
Nov 20
Ubuntu’s touch-based (read: mobile) OS is still finding its footing with users (and a hardware home to call its own), but the outfit’s paving the way for developers to get onboard. An experimental emulator for the mobile OS has just been released that apes much of the feel, and occasionally the look, of Android’s own emulator for desktop. As it’s currently a work-in-progress, not all of the functionality is available at the outset. ADB, SSH access and serial console are all turned ‘on’ by default, but you’ll need to fuss with the emulator to enable things like Powerd and “a few other services.” There are also some non-responsive UI bits to deal with, since the provided keyboard layout is somewhat unworkable, but no doubt future releases will see these rough edges ironed out. That said, it’s a good way for devs and non-devs alike to glimpse the Ubuntu experience on mobile.
Filed under: Software
Source: OMG! Ubuntu!, Ubuntu
Aug 22
Earlier today, we reported that Canonical’s Indiegogo campaign to fund an Ubuntu-based smartphone missed its crowdfunding goal by a mile. However, we’re now learning that Canonical has every intention of moving forward in another capacity, calling the campaign a success and noting that the $12.8 million they did manage to raise was the largest amount […]
Aug 22
Canonical set a bold goal when they launched the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for the Ubuntu Edge phone, asking backers to collectively raise a total of $32 million, which would be the highest amount any crowdsourced project would raise. Sadly, the company didn’t meet the mark, but it ended up raising almost $13 million. The campaign […]
Aug 22
When Canonical took to Indiegogo to crowdfund its Ubuntu Edge smartphone, the $32 million it sought seemed like an incredibly lofty goal. And, one that’s now proven unattainable. Despite quickly selling out of the lowest pledge tier that included a handset, reducing the price of more expensive tiers, then doing the same again as the deadline loomed, the campaign has closed over $19 million shy of its goal. Still, raising just over $12.8 million is a record of sorts, depending on whether you believe a failed effort qualifies. In total, a handful of high-cost bundles were pledged for, 5,674 backers coughed up enough for a lone Edge, and many more thousands offered small sums in support — or, some just really wanted a T-shirt. We’re not convinced the journey ends here, though. After all, there’s clearly some desire for the Edge. Will we see investors step in to make it happen? Or, perhaps Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth will finally see fit to pump some of his own substantial reserves into the project.
A project update from Shuttleworth can be found at the source link. In addition to thanking backers, he says that “the support and publicity has continued to drive our discussions with some major manufacturers,” adding: “Watch this space!”
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: Android Police
Source: Indiegogo
Aug 22
Trying to raise $32 million via crowdfunding always looked overly ambitious. And indeed it has proved to be so. Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge Indiegogo campaign to build a smartphone designed for converged computing has fallen considerably short of its target, ending with the fixed funding project receiving nothing at all — which, when you’ve got pledges worth around $12 million, has got to hurt. The campaign ran from July 22 to August 21.
The Edge, which promised to be both a high end Android and/or Ubuntu-powered smartphone and also an Ubuntu-powered desktop replacement, never looked like it would climb its own crowdfunding Everest, as Canonical was forced to keep coming up with new tricks to try to eke out more backers. The price of the device was lowered, dropping from $830 to $695, plus additional price tiers were added. It even offered backers the ability to vote on the next model’s specs if the project hit its target. Which sounds like a nice carrot — but not a $32 million carrot.
The largest sum raised via crowdfunding to date remains the $10.2 million garned by the Pebble smartwatch (via Kickstarter) — a project which had a far more modest $100,000 goal. If Canonical had plumped for a more modest funding target it too could be taking home multiple millions of dollars right now. Albeit, the cost of building a high end smartphone is of course hugely higher than building a smartphone accessory like Pebble — as Canonical noted:
We’ve set such a high crowdfunding target for a good reason. Between design, certification and manufacture, the costs of building a new phone are huge — but the more we produce, the lower the final cost of each handset. Setting such an ambitious target means a more competitive price per device.
It’s all about scale. To offer the final product at a competitive price we need to produce enough volume to bring the unit costs down. At the same time, we want to be selecting parts that are not yet proven for multi-million-unit production. This is the balance we found. A lower funding target might seem more likely to succeed, but the individual perk amounts would have to be significantly higher. We believe this funding target and these perk levels give us the best chance of success.
In the event Canonical raised just over a third of their overly ambitious funding target, and generated plenty of publicity trying. Which may ultimately have been mostly what the campaign was about. We’ve reached out to the company to ask what their plans are post-Indiegogo unfunding and will update this story with any response. Their project page also notes: “If we don’t reach our target then we will focus only on commercially available handsets and there will not be an Ubuntu Edge. All contributions will be fully refunded.”
Update: In an interview with The Guardian, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth appears to confirm this is the end of the road for the top-end Edge ‘superphone’ concept but he told the newspaper that carriers and handset makers are interesting in building lower end handsets running Ubuntu Mobile.
The Edge received around 27,500 publicly listed backers, including Bloomberg which pledged $80,000 for 100 Edge devices — the sole backer at the top tier enterprise pledge level.
The project raises some interesting questions about the limits of crowdfunding for funding complex hardware projects. Many more modest hardware projects do very well on crowdfunding platforms but there is clearly a funding sweet spot considerably far south of the multi-millions Canonical was hoping to raise (suggesting Elon Musk probably shouldn’t bother trying to crowdfund a $6 billion Hyperloop). At the Edge funding level, investor/VC backing appears to be the only game in town.
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