6 ms·

Canonical announces first partners to ship Ubuntu phones around the globe

145 points by daker 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
pjmlp 13y ago
Portugal Telecom?!?
- gbl08ma 13y ago
  I have known for a long time that they were in Canonical's Carrier Advisory Group, and I can only wonder what use they have for Ubuntu phones. I think they didn't have much success in selling Windows Phone handsets on-contract, so maybe they are planning on offering Ubuntu as the third OS choice in place of Windows Phone (as in, Android/iOS/Ubuntu instead of Android/iOS/WP).
  - pjmlp 13y ago
    Might be. We don't have tradition with contracts in Portugal anyway. Pity that I moved to Optimus a few years ago.
    - JetSpiegel 13y ago
      Me too. Can't beat 6€/month for infinite SMS and 300MB internet.
- _ZeD_ 13y ago
  well, the announce also talks about Telecom Italia, and I'm more baffled about this...
aroch 13y ago
Interesting, Meizu makes some pretty beautiful hardware. I got one of the MX3 on the cheap to play around with. I only wish they would stop using Samsung crappy Exynos SoC
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
LandonAB 13y ago
Makes me wonder if Canonical has the manpower to focus on 3 devices (desktop, tablet and phone).
- IgorPartola 13y ago
  Maybe not, but I imagine mobile and table would be so profitable if it took off that expanding would be easy.
- rasz_pl 13y ago
  They dont, they merged all three. After all touch is the future ...
  - collyw 13y ago
    Unfortunately all the manufacturers seem to think so. Do you really want to try and type something longer than the average SMS on a touchscreen device?
edwardchiapet 13y ago
Interesting partnership!
rjzzleep 13y ago
is that going to be your an arm processor with baseband integrated? the cool thing, you now have your laptop with you on your phone, and it's not just an android, but something with a real package management system. see windows 8 convertibles... the not so cool thing, your laptop is now a nice backdoor where you have no idea whatever the hell it's doing.
- pekk 13y ago
  Do you really have such a clear idea what your Android phone is doing?
gtirloni 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Touch#Target_market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Touch#Target_market Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the company behind the Linux distribution believes that Ubuntu for phones will first find a niche in countries where Ubuntu is well known Linux is barely well known to the general population. Let alone getting them to differentiate the Ubuntu brand. Ubuntu strives to be “the smartphone that’s also a full PC”.[26] Canonical reports that software for the mobile version of Ubuntu is also compatible with versions for PCs and televisions. This is a feature not currently offered by other operating system companies, and aims to simplify both the use and development of the product Pundits tell me nobody wants that, see Windows PCs, tablets, phones are servers. Right? </sarcasm> The aforementioned PC and mobile synergy may also be attractive to corporate IT departments currently using Ubuntu to run their servers Totally different environments that share only the fact they are powered by electricity. Mobile devices can be connected to larger displays and other peripherals such as wireless keyboards. Windows applications can also be accessed from corporate servers onto a mobile device, which makes the transferring of data more efficient While I think we'll get there, we are far away from our smartphones having the power to run a full PC OS with our current workloads. Perhaps Ubuntu is looking too much into the future... personally I think they need the revenue of today's reality. I won't even comment the phrase about Windows applications as it makes no sense. -- If the Wikipedia article accurately reflects what Canonical thinks are the selling points for their Ubuntu phones, then I believe this is going to be a sad disappointment. Another point is that Microsoft, with all its power, can barely break the iOS/Android dominance in mind share... how Canonical plans to do that with such weak selling points? Openness is rarely a worry for smartphone users and developers alike (only a minority of them care and the impact on revenue is probably irrelevant). So is it price alone? Cheaper than Android? If so, we are back to the ecosystem that is nonexistent yet. I'd love a really open alternative, and things have to start somewhere, but Canonical doesn't seem positioned well enough to take on the competitors.
- AlexanderDhoore 13y ago
  I put my money on Mozilla with Firefox OS.
  - 13y ago
Thiz 13y ago
Cordova. Love it. http://developer.ubuntu.com/apps/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/apps/
Danieru 13y ago
Congratulations! I heard rumors about Meizu and I cannot think of a better manufacturer! Meizu has design, engineering, and branding. I wish Canonical well.
- nnkh 13y ago
  I had a look at their site, but the MX[1,2,3] phone doesn't seem too special in design; it's an iPhone clone like so many others at first glance. Is that just the English market, maybe they have other phones as well?
sirkneeland 13y ago
The market for a "pure Linux phone" (that is, !Android) is only so big. In that limited size market, we will now further subdivide it between Ubuntu and Jolla. I wish the two groups would at least seize on the opportunity to collaborate where possible (such as Qt apps)
- pekk 13y ago
  MeeGo tried the kind of collaboration you mention and it failed horribly. Jolla can use some of the leftovers, but the point about the feasibility and usefulness of this kind of collaboration is already made. At least one of these platforms needs to become technically viable and then gain traction. I don't think that imposing a broken MeeGo process in such early days is going to help either platform, it could well kill both and then Linux-phone enthusiasts are left with nothing. It's not a bad thing for "Linux phone" to get multiple chances rather than just one. If one doesn't turn out well, at least all our eggs were not in that one basket. If we are lucky enough that multiple Linux phone vendors get traction, then it is feasible they could collaborate on interoperability. If either ever achieves enough market share to make it a zero-sum game between them (traversing some pretty steep barriers to entry left by incumbents), that's a good problem to have and the competition can encourage development for a little while until the issue is settled one way or the other. Sniping at products which haven't even had a chance yet certainly is not going to help.
  - pessimizer 13y ago
    MeeGo tried that kind of collaboration with whom? There weren't any qualified partners. Who was shipping Linux phones?
    - air 13y ago
      MeeGo was the merge of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo.
      - pessimizer 13y ago
        Merging isn't collaboration.
chris_mahan 13y ago
Will I be able to run python 3.3 on it?
- tragic 13y ago
  It's just Ubuntu but (presumably) on ARM so ... yes.
gdiocarez 13y ago
Hmm, Philippines Smart?! That's seems odd?

145 points by daker 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

pjmlp 13y ago

Portugal Telecom?!?

gbl08ma 13y ago
I have known for a long time that they were in Canonical's Carrier Advisory Group, and I can only wonder what use they have for Ubuntu phones. I think they didn't have much success in selling Windows Phone handsets on-contract, so maybe they are planning on offering Ubuntu as the third OS choice in place of Windows Phone (as in, Android/iOS/Ubuntu instead of Android/iOS/WP).
- pjmlp 13y ago
  Might be. We don't have tradition with contracts in Portugal anyway. Pity that I moved to Optimus a few years ago.
  - JetSpiegel 13y ago
    Me too. Can't beat 6€/month for infinite SMS and 300MB internet.
_ZeD_ 13y ago
well, the announce also talks about Telecom Italia, and I'm more baffled about this...

aroch 13y ago

Interesting, Meizu makes some pretty beautiful hardware. I got one of the MX3 on the cheap to play around with. I only wish they would stop using Samsung crappy Exynos SoC

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

LandonAB 13y ago

Makes me wonder if Canonical has the manpower to focus on 3 devices (desktop, tablet and phone).

IgorPartola 13y ago
Maybe not, but I imagine mobile and table would be so profitable if it took off that expanding would be easy.
rasz_pl 13y ago
They dont, they merged all three. After all touch is the future ...
- collyw 13y ago
  Unfortunately all the manufacturers seem to think so. Do you really want to try and type something longer than the average SMS on a touchscreen device?

edwardchiapet 13y ago

Interesting partnership!

rjzzleep 13y ago

is that going to be your an arm processor with baseband integrated? the cool thing, you now have your laptop with you on your phone, and it's not just an android, but something with a real package management system. see windows 8 convertibles... the not so cool thing, your laptop is now a nice backdoor where you have no idea whatever the hell it's doing.

pekk 13y ago
Do you really have such a clear idea what your Android phone is doing?

gtirloni 13y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Touch#Target_market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Touch#Target_market Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the company behind the Linux distribution believes that Ubuntu for phones will first find a niche in countries where Ubuntu is well known Linux is barely well known to the general population. Let alone getting them to differentiate the Ubuntu brand. Ubuntu strives to be “the smartphone that’s also a full PC”.[26] Canonical reports that software for the mobile version of Ubuntu is also compatible with versions for PCs and televisions. This is a feature not currently offered by other operating system companies, and aims to simplify both the use and development of the product Pundits tell me nobody wants that, see Windows PCs, tablets, phones are servers. Right? </sarcasm> The aforementioned PC and mobile synergy may also be attractive to corporate IT departments currently using Ubuntu to run their servers Totally different environments that share only the fact they are powered by electricity. Mobile devices can be connected to larger displays and other peripherals such as wireless keyboards. Windows applications can also be accessed from corporate servers onto a mobile device, which makes the transferring of data more efficient While I think we'll get there, we are far away from our smartphones having the power to run a full PC OS with our current workloads. Perhaps Ubuntu is looking too much into the future... personally I think they need the revenue of today's reality. I won't even comment the phrase about Windows applications as it makes no sense. -- If the Wikipedia article accurately reflects what Canonical thinks are the selling points for their Ubuntu phones, then I believe this is going to be a sad disappointment. Another point is that Microsoft, with all its power, can barely break the iOS/Android dominance in mind share... how Canonical plans to do that with such weak selling points? Openness is rarely a worry for smartphone users and developers alike (only a minority of them care and the impact on revenue is probably irrelevant). So is it price alone? Cheaper than Android? If so, we are back to the ecosystem that is nonexistent yet. I'd love a really open alternative, and things have to start somewhere, but Canonical doesn't seem positioned well enough to take on the competitors.

AlexanderDhoore 13y ago
I put my money on Mozilla with Firefox OS.
- 13y ago

Thiz 13y ago

Cordova. Love it. http://developer.ubuntu.com/apps/ http://developer.ubuntu.com/apps/

Danieru 13y ago

Congratulations! I heard rumors about Meizu and I cannot think of a better manufacturer! Meizu has design, engineering, and branding. I wish Canonical well.

nnkh 13y ago
I had a look at their site, but the MX[1,2,3] phone doesn't seem too special in design; it's an iPhone clone like so many others at first glance. Is that just the English market, maybe they have other phones as well?

sirkneeland 13y ago

The market for a "pure Linux phone" (that is, !Android) is only so big. In that limited size market, we will now further subdivide it between Ubuntu and Jolla. I wish the two groups would at least seize on the opportunity to collaborate where possible (such as Qt apps)

pekk 13y ago
MeeGo tried the kind of collaboration you mention and it failed horribly. Jolla can use some of the leftovers, but the point about the feasibility and usefulness of this kind of collaboration is already made. At least one of these platforms needs to become technically viable and then gain traction. I don't think that imposing a broken MeeGo process in such early days is going to help either platform, it could well kill both and then Linux-phone enthusiasts are left with nothing. It's not a bad thing for "Linux phone" to get multiple chances rather than just one. If one doesn't turn out well, at least all our eggs were not in that one basket. If we are lucky enough that multiple Linux phone vendors get traction, then it is feasible they could collaborate on interoperability. If either ever achieves enough market share to make it a zero-sum game between them (traversing some pretty steep barriers to entry left by incumbents), that's a good problem to have and the competition can encourage development for a little while until the issue is settled one way or the other. Sniping at products which haven't even had a chance yet certainly is not going to help.
- pessimizer 13y ago
  MeeGo tried that kind of collaboration with whom? There weren't any qualified partners. Who was shipping Linux phones?
  - air 13y ago
    MeeGo was the merge of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo.
    - pessimizer 13y ago
      Merging isn't collaboration.

chris_mahan 13y ago

Will I be able to run python 3.3 on it?

tragic 13y ago
It's just Ubuntu but (presumably) on ARM so ... yes.

gdiocarez 13y ago

Hmm, Philippines Smart?! That's seems odd?