In another post the KDE tablet project's death was announced.
What about Ubuntu's tablet and phone?
I try to keep up with all the latest news in the Linux world. This morning I realized that I sensed a void in the Force. I hadn't seen any news coming out of Canonical concerning its tablet and phone offerings in the usual media. Ubuntu has its own weekly news site but it not saying much about the the tablet and phone market. Ubuntu Edge for tablets was pronounced dead last August but shortly after rough versions of Touch were released to selected testers. So, I dove into the web to search for news.
It appears that both the Ubuntu tablet and Phone is scheduled for release the 3rd Quarter of this year.
Strange indeed, because "yournewsticker" reported that Canonical has "registered 10,000 activations of mobile Ubuntu", what ever that is, because the company has no contracts with manufacturers of smartphones. This means that all settings – focused, and not forced. Owners of Nexus 4 phones and Nexus 7 tablets can install Ubuntu. Is that where the "registrations" are coming from?
Worse for Canonical, the Samsung Z smartphone is set to hit Russia in the third quarter of this year. This phone is powered by the open source Tizen operating system. For those who didn't know, Samsung has been quietly developing Tizen in the background for three years. Tizen already powers the Samsung Gear watches. One can rest assured that Samsung has rolled its own version of the Linux kernel, libraries and user applications, void of any taint by Microsoft IP claims.
Canonical recently announced the "Orange Box", which is to be used for JumpStart training, not for general sale. At its demo people approached Canonical wanting to buy hundreds of them. The Orange Box, which was designed by Canonical and the UK computer OEM Tranquil PC, sells approximately $12,750.
But, Canonical hadn't made any plans to mass produce them. Amazing. They don't appear to know how to make money when the opportunity is handed to them on an Orange platter of their own making.
On a good note, Canonical has 238 job offerings listed on Indeed.
What about Ubuntu's tablet and phone?
I try to keep up with all the latest news in the Linux world. This morning I realized that I sensed a void in the Force. I hadn't seen any news coming out of Canonical concerning its tablet and phone offerings in the usual media. Ubuntu has its own weekly news site but it not saying much about the the tablet and phone market. Ubuntu Edge for tablets was pronounced dead last August but shortly after rough versions of Touch were released to selected testers. So, I dove into the web to search for news.
It appears that both the Ubuntu tablet and Phone is scheduled for release the 3rd Quarter of this year.
Shuttleworth stated:
“[Tablets] will arrive pretty much simultaneously with phones. Q3, middle of this year we’ll see both phones and tablets running Ubuntu on the market.”
Worse for Canonical, the Samsung Z smartphone is set to hit Russia in the third quarter of this year. This phone is powered by the open source Tizen operating system. For those who didn't know, Samsung has been quietly developing Tizen in the background for three years. Tizen already powers the Samsung Gear watches. One can rest assured that Samsung has rolled its own version of the Linux kernel, libraries and user applications, void of any taint by Microsoft IP claims.
Should that happen, the likelihood of the Ubuntu Phone having a chance, in an already saturated market, is unlikely.Think about it this way. The IDC reports:
There is a scant 1% left over for "Other."
Because Samsung already has such a strong presence in the Android market, and because their devices are found everywhere, they could chip away (even slightly) at both the Android and "Other" markets. The Ubuntu Phone will most likely be relegated to the "Other" market. That's not much to pull from. Those low numbers will make it a huge challenge for Canonical and the Ubuntu Phone. To make matters worse, the longer it takes for the Ubuntu Phone to make its way to market, the smaller that user base will be. That's the crux of the issue -- time. Canonical announced its intention to create a Ubuntu Phone some time ago. Since then, it's been nothing but promises and a failed fundraiser for Ubuntu Edge.
- Android powers nearly 80% of the world's mobile devices
- iOS powers just over 15% of the world's mobile devices
- Windows phone powers just over 3% of the world's mobile devices
- BlackBerry powers just under 2% of the world's mobile devices
There is a scant 1% left over for "Other."
Because Samsung already has such a strong presence in the Android market, and because their devices are found everywhere, they could chip away (even slightly) at both the Android and "Other" markets. The Ubuntu Phone will most likely be relegated to the "Other" market. That's not much to pull from. Those low numbers will make it a huge challenge for Canonical and the Ubuntu Phone. To make matters worse, the longer it takes for the Ubuntu Phone to make its way to market, the smaller that user base will be. That's the crux of the issue -- time. Canonical announced its intention to create a Ubuntu Phone some time ago. Since then, it's been nothing but promises and a failed fundraiser for Ubuntu Edge.
Inside the Orange Box, you'll find ten Intel micro-servers powered by Ivy Bridge i5-3427U CPUs. Each mini-server has four cores, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 16GBs of DDR3 RAM, a 128GB SSD root disk, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The first computer also includes a Centrino Advanced-N 6235 Wi-Fi Adapter, and 2TB Western Digital hard drive. These are all connected in a cluster with a D-Link Gigabit switch. Put it all together and you get a 40-core, 160GB RAM, 1.2TB SSD cluster in a box.
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In a conversation after the keynote, Shuttleworth agreed that they hadn't expected this kind of reaction.
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In a conversation after the keynote, Shuttleworth agreed that they hadn't expected this kind of reaction.
On a good note, Canonical has 238 job offerings listed on Indeed.
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