It looks like Google has one less platform to worry about, at least for the moment. Canonical set out to build some competition for Android (and the other mobile OS as well, but we don’t care too much about them) in the shape of the Ubuntu Edge, which is supposed to be Canonical’s flagship device for Ubuntu for phones. So, why doesn’t Google have to worry about it for the time being? Easy, Canonical set out a Kickstarter project for the Ubuntu Edge phone, which had to raise $32 million in order to get backed and built and with over two weeks in the wild, the project hasn’t even made it to the $10 million mark. This is including Bloomberg LP’s recent support, which was the Edge’s first Enterprise 100 bundle with a cost of $80,000 and as Geek.com points out, even if they manage to sell the remaining 49 Enterprise bundles, that would still leave Canonical about $16 million short of it’s goal which to make things worst, should be completed in less time than the first $8.5 million. I don’t like to use the word impossible, so I’m just going to say that the chances of the project being funded in time are close to zero.
Recently Canonical cut the price of the phone to $695, which is still crazy expensive for a phone that’s not going to come out until the middle of next year, which by that time, Android devices are going to be filled with crazy specs and the OS will be way more advanced than today.
As for Canonical and its founder Mark Shuttleworth, they said that they won’t save the project if the goal isn’t reached with the company’s position being “If we don’t reach our target their won’t be an Ubuntu Edge.”
It’s already extremely hard to compete in the mobile space these days, it’s hard for Android and iOS, the top two systems and it’s even harder for the rest of the competitors like Windows Phone, Blackberry 10 or Firefox OS and putting the first phone of the platform in the hands of consumers, who aren’t invested in the platform, is almost crazy and the results are right there in the open. The chances of us seeing the Ubuntu Edge on the street are almost non-existent, however we might see some other phone running Ubuntu in the future, until that day comes, Google and Android have one less platform to worry about.