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Canonical shocked many Ubuntu fans by announcing their first party support for the new Ubuntu mobile OS. The Ubuntu Edge was set to be the example product for mobile manufacturers preparing to work with Canonical on Ubuntu smartphones in the future.
Against other smartphones on the market today, the Ubuntu Edge outclasses them in performance. With a top of the line CPU, 4GB of RAM and dedicated GPU, it has enough horsepower to run Ubuntu desktop OS, something it can do when plugged into a display.
The Ubuntu Edge would be made with rough edges, hence the name and Canonical would bring one metal piece to build the device, with a 720p screen and enough battery to last one day. The Ubuntu Edge would also come with 128GB of storage.
This is why it was so exciting, a smartphone that could run Ubuntu OS, both desktop and mobile and Android. The Ubuntu Edge got lots of early buyers, hitting $3.5 million within the first few days.
Since then the excitement deteriorated and with Canonical changing the pricing on the Ubuntu Edge, some potential backers were put off because they may purchase the Ubuntu Edge at the wrong time and end up paying more.
Some thought Canonical would invest their own to keep the Ubuntu Edge going, but that has not happened and the project has failed by $19 million. It is possible Canonical will offer the Ubuntu Edge out to anyone willing to buy the first 10,000 or units or something along those lines.
Overall, this is a bit of a bummer for the Ubuntu developers who wanted this smartphone. Ubuntu OS is still set to come on some devices in 2014 and Canonical continues to grab partners for the project.
