Ubuntu To Start Shipping On Smartphones In October

There's a report out today that Ubuntu will begin to ship on smart-phones beginning this October.

A report out by the Wall Street Journal is entitled "Ubuntu Smartphone Shipping in October." The posting by Michael Hickins, the WSJ CIO Editor, cites comments made by Mark Shuttleworth as for the first appearance of smartphones running Ubuntu in October.

New details in the article are scarce and doesn't reveal any carriers or handset partners planning to ship an Ubuntu Phone OS device. According to Mark Shuttleworth, "the new phone operating system will be available in two large geographic markets in October", but didn't specify which and only reaffirmed that North America is a key market for Ubuntu Linux.

An October premiere of the first Ubuntu smart-phone would presumably be aligned around the launch of -- and running on -- Ubuntu 13.10. Details on Ubuntu Phone OS remain scarce since its announcement in early January while Ubuntu on phones have been talked about since 2011. An early developer preview of the phone-optimized Ubuntu spin is expected to be available by the end of this month and up to now most Ubuntu Phone developers have been using the Google Nexus from Samsung as a prototype device.