Why ubuntu edge will fail

The campaign launched quite nicely, and hit its second wind when the cheaper contribution levels were introduced. Moreover, the structuring of the perks is extremely bare bones and hardly incentivizes backers to pledge more than the bare minimum for a phone. Currently, the only backer levels available are:. The structure is rather sparse, and a far cry from the meticulously planned scaling system of perks we are accustomed to seeing in Kickstarter projects.

The Pebble did it. And now the Ubuntu Edge has done it. Ubuntu Edge has, if nothing else, done that. Failure or not, it tried. Between design, certification and manufacture, the costs of building a new phone are huge — but the more we produce, the lower the final cost of each handset. Setting such an ambitious target means a more competitive price per device. To offer the final product at a competitive price we need to produce enough volume to bring the unit costs down.

They all interoperate. Every Ubuntu device would be additive to the whole ecosystem of devices. They don't buy apps or content. They're expensive to service, because they've got these smartphones, but they don't generate data revenues or much content revenue.

But, I asked, doesn't that mean that Ubuntu Mobile would be aiming at the low-end user, rather than the high-end who had been targeted by the Edge project? But we're also working on putting a phone that's the equivalent of a mass-market car on the road. I would very much like to see the Edge but I didn't expect that the majority of Ubuntu Mobile users would come through the Edge - but through retail.

Frankly, we'd see handset makers rebadge their Android phones and put Ubuntu Mobile on it. Each model comes with modifications made by the manufacturer. And Android has struggled to build a clean, coherent user experience.