Well that decides it - I'm in.<p>I'm excited about the possibility of a genuinely hand held, pocket sized device that I can hook up to behave like a full desktop.<p>It's a format that has been tried before but the power/price ratio has never been favourable - this feels like the first real chance for it to work.
Is there any information on whether the drivers on the phone will be open source as well? I'm on the fence, but the main thing stopping me is that I'm not very keen on buying yet another phone powered by a bunch of proprietary binary blobs.<p>I'd like to hack on the software, build my own, try to install Debian on it instead etc. All that is going to be much harder if I have to use whatever kernel version their binary blobs target.
I don't quite get what's going on here. Is this an idea for a major commercial product or is it a quirky fun thing for the ubuntu community? The scale they're aiming for seems to imply the former.<p>Usable as a desktop is a cool idea, but more of a "linux on your wristwatch" idea than one with real use. I mean, if you have a keyboard & monitor handy, how hard is it to have a PC too? Cheap micro desktops are coming out all over the place. Cheap.<p>Am I missing the point entirely? Is this all about Ubuntu mobile itself with android & ubuntu desktop as extras?<p>I hope this doesn't sound like hating. I actually want this to succeed. It's cool. Crowd funding a major player in the OS/mobile space is even cooler. Lots of potential spinoffs down the road (like the iOS laptop I've wanted to get my dad for years). That said... Can anyone explain this to me? What are they trying to do here?
Shuttleworth's interview about how they are going to keep the long term future of Ubuntu's phone OS from fragmenting while still allowing complete manufacturer customization was a really disappointing string of non-answers. I am really confused about how this is going to shape up. Maybe this will set a precendent for a Nexus-style standard device with the blessing of Canonical itself.
At current levels they need more than 30,000 people to commit to buy an $830 dollar phone which is not expected to released for at least 10 months and with next to no marketing clout.<p>I'm not saying it can't be done but I'd be very surprised if they meet the target.
There is a lesson there - you cant sell a lot of kit (available at some future date) at a price that is over 30% more than a ton of other folks got it for. The reward price "spread" is an attempt to reproduce that initial enthusiastic sales surge but I wonder...<p>Might come off but it feels like a marketing "cock-up" to me.
"[Kogan] LivePrice allows you to purchase a product while we are in the process of manufacturing or shipping. The price of the product gradually increases... " <a href="http://www.kogan.com/au/liveprice/" rel="nofollow">http://www.kogan.com/au/liveprice/</a>
So long as a Paypal account is required to make a > $500 contribution, I won't be contributing at any of those tiers. I know I'm in the minority though so I doubt this will have a big impact on the overall funding.
Done. £419 for a phone that good, that I only need a screen and a keyboard for to turn into a mobile workstation. Fingers crossed that enough people find this as compelling as I do and sign up!
Man, what a bummer. Can't make a purchase without a paypal account. Guys - please enable credit card payments and you'll have a horde of buyers from India :)
I can't comment on their thing so I'll say something here hoping someone there reads it...<p>They really ought to make their $20 founder level a lottery.<p>And then after that was publicized, make two more tiers.<p>$20 - 1 ticket<p>$50 - 3 tickets<p>$100 - 8 tickets<p>And then throw in some of the $10,000 one of a kind prizes in the drawing.
Selling out all the "limited" tiers still lands them $7 million short. I hope they make it (I backed the $600 tier), but I'm still doubtful.
"The last few days have been absolutely incredible -- over $3.5 million in the first 40 hours."<p>This seems quite low. With thirty days they must achieve over a million dollars per day. I would assume that the first 40 hours brings way more money than the days 3-27 but that's only double than the required average income. I hope they reach the target, but I doubt it.
I'd say its a good move (even if it is a fluke). Think this way, people saw 600$ and 830$ initially. So in our subconscious mind, 830$ IS THE price, rest will be played by psychology, anything less than 830 would be at a discount and most probably I'll be TEMPTED to buy it.
625 is sold out already. Any idea what the likely BOM cost to Ubuntu would be for this?<p><a href="http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Carries-236-Bill-of-Materials-IHS-iSuppli-Virtual-Teardown-Reveals.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/Samsung-Galaxy-S...</a><p>Suggests 400$ is achievable, which should leave them plenty of room for profit at 600 USD. Given the dropoff when the price goes up to 675 from 625 here: <a href="http://vertior.com:9000/" rel="nofollow">http://vertior.com:9000/</a> and the lack of marketing / distribution costs you'd think they'd do better just to leave the price low.
I'm all for an Ubuntu phone, almost to the point of shelling out, but I'm not sure I'd get a commensurate benefit from this phone. I would probably go for it if it weren't for remote desktop apps like iTeleport. Pull out whatever mobile device you've got (this morning it was my iPad), launch the app, and there's your home desktop (assuming you've got a cell or WiFi signal). It's laggy, but such things improve over time.<p>Maybe I'm missing the point.
Their goal of $32M seems impossible, unless I'm not understanding how indiegogo works.<p>If all the pledge levels 'fill up' (Only $830 and $20 do not have caps) They hit about 11 or 12 million. That leaves about 20 million to be supplied by the $830, $20 levels - or just random goodwill givings. Is that correct?<p>*edit, an illustration of what I was seeing:
<a href="http://pastebin.com/8GfXRzbY" rel="nofollow">http://pastebin.com/8GfXRzbY</a>
I'd like to see another reward level: I would pay $50 for an option to buy the phone at $650 at launch or soon afterwards. Say 2 months after launch to give the people who have paid outright up front an advantage.<p>You'd get an indication of volume and free money. Not many companies get the chance to charge potential customers.<p>Also, if this suggestion brings you more than $1m, I'd like a free phone please.<p>Reader: if you'd like this option too, why not chime in here.
Does anyone really think the $32 will be reached? The trend seems to me to be against this<p>(and I'm not jealous, I actually gave $630 on the day one)
Why do they have the same exact item/reward point at $625, $675, $725 and $830? It seems to me they're realizing there's no way they can reach they goal selling at the $830 price point, but why have all other levels simultaneously? Are people really going to pick 725 over 675 for the same thing?
why not make founder $100 and give a discount on batch 2.<p>the phone seems too high and the founder too low. I'd like it to happen but I would rather wait for a second batch.
this graph is great<p><a href="http://movebits.net/2013/07/23/ubuntu-edge-funding-level/" rel="nofollow">http://movebits.net/2013/07/23/ubuntu-edge-funding-level/</a><p>you can really see how the new "deals" really helped it take off again.
At this prices they will need to add financing options to their phones.<p>We are in the era of Ben Bernanke free money for everyone. Getting credit should not be that hard.<p>Financing is a top priority thing for selling phones and cars in the real world. Probably not in Mark Shutterworth's land thought.