
Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal - mariusz331
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge?new=true
======
lmartel
Speculation: they didn't want the money, they wanted the buzz.

They didn't even have all their parts picked out, did they? But they'll be
able to use this for leverage with manufacturers/investors/whatever.

12 million in "sales" in a month with no marketing (or product)!

~~~
krichman
What if they picked a goal they purposely thought they wouldn't reach to test
the market on a kickstarting platform and prevent a third-party marketplace
from taking a percentage of sales?

------
Aldo_MX
I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical
keyboard.

Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state
away from me, yet they're small enough to make me struggle when trying to
write something complex like my _secure password_...

Swype and similar options are not an option either, because I write in
different languages, and no matter how good the text prediction technology
gets, the software is unable to predict in which language I'm trying to write,
especially with short words. (I understand this is an unrealistic expectation,
but still, expecting a person like me to consider this alternative is an
unrealistic expectation).

And I prefer not to say something about Voice Input...

I swear I tried different options, but I simply can't... Is a physical
keyboard too much to ask? :(

~~~
zx2c4
Likewise. My N950 has an incredible keyboard -- it even have a proper control
key -- but its operating system is completely dead in the water. There don't
seem to be any modern Android phones that run on GSM and have physical
keyboards. The Phonon Q has its SIM card soldered to the phone. I just ordered
a Galaxy S Relay off ebay, which is last year's hardware and its physical
keyboard is supposed to be kind of bad anyway. The state of physical keyboards
in phones these days is terrible. The [overpriced] Blackberry Q10 is tempting
for its hardware, and the fact that it comes with an Android runtime, but I
don't really want to run QNX or have a smartphone running a bunch of obscure
HTTP servers with pf managing the security between them -- or whatever bizarre
model they're using.

I wish Shuttleworth would have added the physical keyboard and advertised it
as the natural progression of the N900/N950. I would have purchased a few of
them.

~~~
igravious
It seems like the percentage of people who want a physical keyboard on their
phones is good deal smaller than those who don't. So it makes sense to cater
to the majority initially and then if that's successful to bring out a
physical keyboard variant. There's no point in saying that you would have
bought the Edge if only it had a physical keyboard. You are not the target
market.

Why don't you make a HN poll and find out? Link the poll to here. Smartphones
a) should b) should not have a physical keyboard Or something like that!

~~~
kunil
How about those phones that can slide and open to show a physical keyboard,
probably too costly and error prone I guess

~~~
GFischer
I have a Nokia N86, I love it, and use it alongside my android "phone" (which
is basically a tablet for my use case).

My ideal design would be an Android-powered Blackberry Torch format (with a
slightly larger screen).

------
martin-adams
$32 mil is a lot to aim for, but their goal was to see if there is an
marketplace for cutting edge technology where innovation can really thrive. If
you lowered the threshold then it starts to lose what they set out to prove -
is the industry too scared to innovate because they will lose their market
share.

They have proved there is a market for £12 mil on a product that is only a
concept at this stage. Had this product been in stores today I believe they
would have sold far more than $32 mil, both from the immediate availability
but also increased exposure.

I am looking forward to seeing the Ubuntu phones come. It shouldn't be seen as
a failure as to Canonical, it was an experiment. They tested to see if people
would go wild for something like this and now they know that people do want
it, but it's not as straightforward as they now need to get the mainstream
manufacturers on board and sell a product, not a concept.

At least that's my take on it.

~~~
mercurial
I don't know. I believe that "phones that can replace a computer" are years
away still. So you are left with a Linux phone, and I'd bet the Jolla people
to get it right. Also, I haven't tried Ubuntu Touch but the little I've seen
of Unity hasn't really blown me away.

~~~
dalek_cannes
I agree. Is this a phone that I can:

1\. Hold to my ear when a call arrives, without unplugging the video cable to
my screen?

2\. Wave around without fear of it falling and shattering to bits, taking most
of my digital life with it (unless I'm using cloud/NSA)?

------
oracuk
I hope this isn't unfair but..

Does this mean that Canonical either don't believe enough in Ubuntu Edge to
raise the $20m difference themselves or that Canonical do believe in it but
are not able to raise $20m?

I have to admit I am skeptical about the commitment of a large, established,
company to a product that they are not willing to put their own skin in the
game to develop.

However, I can understand and have participated in crowd-funding for smaller
companies who are trying to play a bigger game.

I just wonder which one Canonical is.

~~~
reitzensteinm
You're assuming that the $32m would have been enough to fund the project
entirely, but that's not necessarily the case.

Imagine a scenario where Canonical budgeted the project at $50m, deciding that
they'd be willing to invest up to $18m of their own money in addition to the
Indiegogo cash.

In this case, they would have plenty of skin in the game, and yet they
wouldn't be willing to go even further to shore up the weak campaign results.

They would be amortizing the R&D over a small number of phones, and their
goals are ambitious for a company with no hardware experience. Even in the
circumstance of a fully funded campaign, the project would have real potential
to be an endless money pit of delays and frustration.

~~~
mariusz331
It would have had to been because:

"The Ubuntu Edge is an exclusive production run, available only through
Indiegogo."

Unless they want to lose money or plan to monetize some other way.

------
shurcooL
I asked a few developer-related questions about it in multiple places, but
never got any answers. I might've bought it otherwise.

~~~
danpalmer
What did you ask? I've been trying some Ubuntu Touch development recently and
I found documentation for it to be ok.

~~~
shurcooL
Questions like these.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6181597](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6181597)

~~~
socceroos
1) Yes. It is normal Ubuntu. You'd have to install some extra packages. 2)
Yes, you can execute code in Desktop or Mobile - how you deliver the interface
though would probably be done by either HTML or C++/QT Quick. 3) Yes, yes and
yes. 4) It is a single environment with multiple interfaces. Plug it into a
monitor and Unity Next will switch layout to Desktop - Plug it into a TV and
it'll switch layout to Ubuntu for TV. All the underlying code is the same.

------
primelens
Ah well - at least they tried and who knows, maybe not having to take on the
hassle of hardware design and production will lead to a better Ubuntu release
for existing top-end phones.

~~~
AlexanderDhoore
And let's not forget that there's also a small linux desktop distro called
Ubuntu. Maybe they could try and improve that? But that's just crazy right?
Who still uses a laptop these days? Nobody!

~~~
inthewind
You could try:

print count(nsaQuery.region('global').device('laptop').activity('-24hr'))

;)

------
fridek
Unrealistic goal, crazy prize for specs that should be widely available when
phone is finally shipped after almost a year. I wasn't that surprising :)

~~~
HipstaJules
You totally got it

------
pavlov
I don't need another phone but I like the project, so I gave my money once it
became clear that they're not going to reach the $32 million goal.

How IndieGogo works is that they charge the money immediately but refund it if
the campaign doesn't reach its goal. So basically I lent $725 to IndieGogo for
a week. Expressing support for Ubuntu in "real money" won't get cheaper than
this!

~~~
harrytuttle
So IndieGogo works by pocketing the interest rather than you. Not a bad
business model.

~~~
bbrks
Or taking a nice 4%[1] cut if it does succeed.

[1] [http://www.indiegogo.com/how-pricing-works-on-
indiegogo](http://www.indiegogo.com/how-pricing-works-on-indiegogo)

~~~
harrytuttle
Even better. Interest _and_ commission.

I genuinely wish I'd thought of it.

------
bbx
Genuine off-topic question: why didn't they go through Kickstarter, to
potentially reach more users (although a $32M goal is huge)?

~~~
SteveDeFacto
I think they get to keep the money they raised even though they didn't meet
the goal.

~~~
awsm
They announced all payments will be refunded by PayPal within 5 days.

> "We’ve been assured by Paypal that all refunds will be processed within five
> working days."[1]

[1] [http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-
edge?c=activity#act...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-
edge?c=activity#activities_container)

------
drill_sarge
Looked nice but for me it was just too expensive. I don't pay 700 bucks for a
phone. Even the OS is interesting and everything but in the end it's just a
phone for me.

------
Dowbell
I hope they try again maybe not as high as 32million but like 18million maybe
next year but really I would like the phone to be manufactured not just a
limited run

------
Dowbell
Nexus 5 I hope we been able to run the software they had planned for Ubuntu
Edge. If thats true I would buy a Nexus 5 until they make a Ubuntu Edge

------
mh-
raised just over 40% of their goal - $12,809,906 / $32M.

was certainly an interesting experiment

 _edit: s /raised/were pledged/_

~~~
danpalmer
Indiegogo take the money and then refund if unsuccessful, so in a way they did
raise the money, at least people were willing to part with it immediately.

------
SteveDeFacto
Did they actually expect to raise 32 million dollars? None the less for a $700
smart phone...

------
general_failure
Can't say I am surprised. I wish ffos had done this.

------
mariuolo
What now?

~~~
fetbaffe
Firefox OS!

~~~
eb0la
I seriously doubt FFOS can do something like the Ubuntu Edge in the next 2-3
commercial cycles.

Canonical has been working for years on polishing a ARM distribution, and FFOS
is just starting now and the amount of work needed to use a FFOS device as a
computer is (today) non-trivial; plus you'll need some support from at least a
hardware vendor, and carrier interested in selling the device/having the
device in its own network

~~~
reidrac
Not sure about this. Sure FFOS isn't perfect, but I have a ZTE Open in my desk
right now... for me that's way ahead of Ubuntu Edge.

It's too soon to tell, but looks like FFOS is happening. Right now.

