Ubuntu Edge fails to raise goal

Speculation: they didn&#x27;t want the money, they wanted the buzz.<p>They didn&#x27;t even have all their parts picked out, did they? But they&#x27;ll be able to use this for leverage with manufacturers&#x2F;investors&#x2F;whatever.<p>12 million in &quot;sales&quot; in a month with no marketing (or product)!

I liked the idea, but I refuse to use a phone without a landscape physical keyboard.<p>Virtual keyboards are awful. All of them. They take too much screen real state away from me, yet they&#x27;re small enough to make me struggle when trying to write something complex like my <i>secure password</i>...<p>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&#x27;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).<p>And I prefer not to say something about Voice Input...<p>I swear I tried different options, but I simply can&#x27;t... Is a physical keyboard too much to ask? :(

$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.<p>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.<p>I am looking forward to seeing the Ubuntu phones come. It shouldn&#x27;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&#x27;s not as straightforward as they now need to get the mainstream manufacturers on board and sell a product, not a concept.<p>At least that&#x27;s my take on it.

I hope this isn&#x27;t unfair but..<p>Does this mean that Canonical either don&#x27;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?<p>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.<p>However, I can understand and have participated in crowd-funding for smaller companies who are trying to play a bigger game.<p>I just wonder which one Canonical is.

I asked a few developer-related questions about it in multiple places, but never got any answers. I might&#x27;ve bought it otherwise.

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.

Unrealistic goal, crazy prize for specs that should be widely available when phone is finally shipped after almost a year. I wasn&#x27;t that surprising :)

I don&#x27;t need another phone but I like the project, so I gave my money once it became clear that they&#x27;re not going to reach the $32 million goal.<p>How IndieGogo works is that they charge the money immediately but refund it if the campaign doesn&#x27;t reach its goal. So basically I lent $725 to IndieGogo for a week. Expressing support for Ubuntu in &quot;real money&quot; won&#x27;t get cheaper than this!

Genuine off-topic question: why didn&#x27;t they go through Kickstarter, to potentially reach more users (although a $32M goal is huge)?

Looked nice but for me it was just too expensive. I don&#x27;t pay 700 bucks for a phone. Even the OS is interesting and everything but in the end it&#x27;s just a phone for me.

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

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

raised just over 40% of their goal - $12,809,906 &#x2F; $32M.<p>was certainly an interesting experiment<p><i>edit: s&#x2F;raised&#x2F;were pledged&#x2F;</i>

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

Can&#x27;t say I am surprised. I wish ffos had done this.

What now?