Ubuntu Edge : même s'il n'atteint pas les 32 millions de dollars, Canonical a gagné

AppId is over the quota

Note: this article was originally published on ZDNet.com, where you can find it in the original version.

Canonical, the company which publishes the distribution GNU / Linux Ubuntu, makes a bet. It has relied on the fact that there were enough visionaries to raise 32 million dollars in crowdfunding and manufacture the first device combining smartphone and PC based on Linux, Ubuntu Edge. It seems that the company will miss his bet, but in the long term, I think that Canonical will leave the winner game table.

Canonical will be winning, even if it is unable to raise the funds for the Ubuntu Edge. -Image Canonical

First, even with the investment of $ 80,000 by Bloomberg in the (English) project, indicators show that Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign will miss its goal. Even when it decided to lower the price of the device at 695 dollars on August 8, Canonical has been unable to raise donations. This 12 August, ten days away from the date of the fundraiser on Indiegogo campaign, the company only received pledges $ 9.6 million.

Huge pledges

From what I know, it is the largest fund raising carried out by a commercial enterprise in a limited time. But it is still not enough.

Some hope that Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and Ubuntu, will save the project by investing at the last minute. This seems unlikely. Questioned by the British newspaper The Guardian, he clearly said that "if we do not reach our goal, there not Ubuntu Edge".

Shuttleworth did not lose sleep. It has already announced at CNET that "multiply by three the record of crowdfunding is a super-ambitieux project". But "it is also clear that this project is auxiliary in the mission, which is to bring Ubuntu on the market".

Exactly.

Ubuntu is perhaps the biggest fish in the distributions of GNU / Linux on the desktop, but on smartphone and in the technological world in general, it is small fry. Project Ubuntu Edge has already managed to attract the attention of companies like Bloomberg, who would have otherwise than barely noticed Canonical.

For Mark Shuttleworth, the question is not that of a Ubuntu phone. "It comes to change the dynamics of innovation," according to him, and it is both a truth and a key point.

Thinker of the computer of the future

Canonical is far from being the first company to speak of a hybrid device all-in-one. From what I know, this is the first to bring both an operating system, Ubuntu, and an interface, Unity, which can turn on both smartphone and Tablet-PC.

As Jason Perlow, ZDNet, recently noted, "Shuttleworth vision become a reality, you need a unified platform. "In other words, Smartphone, Tablet and the workstation OS must be the same operating system, the same objective, developer and in the end, the same device."

I think that this is exactly the direction taken by the technology. Even if there is never Ubuntu edge, Canonical is positioned as a visionary company in this new form of computing.

Someone, will soon start to manufacture these all-in-one devices. I suspect strongly that Canonical will be involved in these projects, even if it does not run. At this time, when hybridization smartphone / PC invade both consumer electronics and professional computing, Canonical will affect dividends from its early advances.

It WINS, loses or makes shutout with the Edge Ubuntu, Canonical is now positioned to the Linux community, the general public and potential partners as a company that thinks big the future of computing. This is a good place to occupy.

New Gsm

Ubuntu Edge: even if it does not reach $ 32 million, Canonical has earned

Note: this article was originally published on ZDNet.com, where you can find it in the original version.

Canonical, the company which publishes the distribution GNU / Linux Ubuntu, makes a bet. It has relied on the fact that there were enough visionaries to raise 32 million dollars in crowdfunding and manufacture the first device combining smartphone and PC based on Linux, Ubuntu Edge. It seems that the company will miss his bet, but in the long term, I think that Canonical will leave the winner game table.

Canonical will be winning, even if it is unable to raise the funds for the Ubuntu Edge. -Image Canonical

First, even with the investment of $ 80,000 by Bloomberg in the (English) project, indicators show that Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding campaign will miss its goal. Even when it decided to lower the price of the device at 695 dollars on August 8, Canonical has been unable to raise donations. This 12 August, ten days away from the date of the fundraiser on Indiegogo campaign, the company only received pledges $ 9.6 million.

Huge pledges

From what I know, it is the largest fund raising carried out by a commercial enterprise in a limited time. But it is still not enough.

Some hope that Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and Ubuntu, will save the project by investing at the last minute. This seems unlikely. Questioned by the British newspaper The Guardian, he clearly said that "if we do not reach our goal, there not Ubuntu Edge".

Shuttleworth did not lose sleep. It has already announced at CNET that "multiply by three the record of crowdfunding is a super-ambitieux project". But "it is also clear that this project is auxiliary in the mission, which is to bring Ubuntu on the market".

Exactly.

Ubuntu is perhaps the biggest fish in the distributions of GNU / Linux on the desktop, but on smartphone and in the technological world in general, it is small fry. Project Ubuntu Edge has already managed to attract the attention of companies like Bloomberg, who would have otherwise than barely noticed Canonical.

For Mark Shuttleworth, the question is not that of a Ubuntu phone. "It comes to change the dynamics of innovation," according to him, and it is both a truth and a key point.

Thinker of the computer of the future

Canonical is far from being the first company to speak of a hybrid device all-in-one. From what I know, this is the first to bring both an operating system, Ubuntu, and an interface, Unity, which can turn on both smartphone and Tablet-PC.

As Jason Perlow, ZDNet, recently noted, "Shuttleworth vision become a reality, you need a unified platform. "In other words, Smartphone, Tablet and the workstation OS must be the same operating system, the same objective, developer and in the end, the same device."

I think that this is exactly the direction taken by the technology. Even if there is never Ubuntu edge, Canonical is positioned as a visionary company in this new form of computing.

Someone, will soon start to manufacture these all-in-one devices. I suspect strongly that Canonical will be involved in these projects, even if it does not run. At this time, when hybridization smartphone / PC invade both consumer electronics and professional computing, Canonical will affect dividends from its early advances.

It WINS, loses or makes shutout with the Edge Ubuntu, Canonical is now positioned to the Linux community, the general public and potential partners as a company that thinks big the future of computing. This is a good place to occupy.

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:

Canonical preparing mobile Ubuntu with the support of eight operators

Canonical Announces the creation of an Advisory Group of the operators (Carrier Advisory Group, or CAG), whose founding members are Deutsche Telekom, Everything Everywhere, Korea Telecom, Telecom Italia, LG UPlus, Portugal Telecom, SK Telecom and "the most important Spanish international operator" (Telefónica? The editor does not specify its identity).

This group is a forum for mobile operators influence the development of Ubuntu for smartphones, indicates Canonical. Any national or international operator who so wishes can reach the CAG until the end of July; It will be then closed to new accessions.

Compatibility and the fragmentation of platforms among the points in the programme

Only members of the group will have access to early information on the projects of manufacturers for the new operating system, as well as the possibility to be partners in the launch of Ubuntu for smartphones.

The CAG is chaired independently, says Canonical, by David Wood. With 25 years of experience in the mobile industry, he currently chairs the Group of futurology London Futurists and has served on the Board of Directors of Symbian and the Open Mobile Alliance.

The Advisory Group will meet to discuss topics such as the HTML5 standards, application compatibility, models of revenue sharing between publishers, operators and manufacturers, the fragmentation of platforms, etc.

Compatibility and fragmentation are themes that are necessary, because Ubuntu mobile OS will be the fourth operating system free software will happen in mobile telephony, after Android (which dominates the market, followed by the iOS of Apple), the Google OS, Firefox OS and Sailfish (developed by start-up Jolla, Nokia alumni).

In February, Canonical has released an alpha version of its OS for smartphones and tablets, for Nexus and Nexus 4. Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, stated on this occasion that first Ubuntu smartphones could get out early 2014.

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