Ubuntu Edge: for its smartphone, Canonical tests the crowdfunding

No respite for Ubuntu on the front of the smartphone. Under pressure following the launch of the first devices Firefox OS and the acceleration of Samsung with its system Tizen, Canonical should upgrade the package to ensure a place for the mobile version of its distribution GNU / Linux.

South African editor therefore embarked on "the largest campaign of crowdfunding of all time" to develop and manufacture the Ubuntu Edge, its first smartphone, which must have specifications at the height of an entry-level laptop.

3.13 on raised $ 32 million

For the leader of Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth, there will be "a new range of devices that mark the advent of convergence that we see as inevitable between the smartphone and the PC". On the platform of crowdfunding Indiegogo, Canonical hope that his vision will take and will enable it to recover in one month the $ 32 million needed for the development of its Ubuntu Edge.

 

This would produce approximately 40,000 phones. At the time of this writing, the editor has already managed to raise more than 10% of its target, while only two days have passed. Canonical has until August 21 to recover the balance, which seems prima facie feasible given the beginning of enthusiasm for the project.

A optimistic condition, obviously, that enthusiasts are not working on the deal, predictions of a painful and slow long tail to recover 90% of the funding still to find. $ 3.31 million have so far been promised. Remember the operation of these sites of crowdfunding: If the desired amount of pledges is not reached, donations are cancelled and the project "will not do", announced Mark Shuttleworth.

Launching in April-May 2014?

Another figure interesting: the distribution of donations on the basis of the claimed return, which indicates the approximate amount of the promised amounts by users. While only 1000 people asked to receive the $ 20 consideration, those $600 is already past: more than 5,000 people were therefore given at least this amount.

It must be said that at $ 600 voucher to retrieve the smartphone, which, in the light of the classical difficulties to get a new camera during its limited release, can largely explain the craze for this level of donation. Three people still gave at least $ 10,000 to the project.

Delivery dates promised first donors seem to indicate an actual launch of the device in April or may, 2014. The specifications are currently provisional, but the device could ship a chip to multiple cores running at 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM and 128 GB of storage. The slab expected would measure 4.5 inches with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels.

All would benefit from speakers stereo HD, of a rear camera 8MP and a front 2 MP, as well as sensor connectivity LTE compatible with American and European networks, and a connector MHL that will plug into an external screen HDMI and use it as a computer, promise of departing from Canonical.

Here is the video of presentation of material: