Canonical Goes To Crowd-Funding For Ubuntu Edge Phone

[TheBlackCat]

68 hours to go with a little over 1/3 funded so far ($11.3 million out of $32). So in less than three days they need to collect almost twice as much as they have collected over the last 27 days. It isn't looking promising.

[AJenbo]

For all those that are saying canonical should pay for the first devices and initial development. They actually bought several Google Nexuz 9 and gave them to people who where interested in helping out with the initial development of Ubuntu Touch. So the development of the software is already well on it's way and they have already payed for the initial development. People pledging here are ether getting there money back or a costume phone that is not unreasonably priced when you look at the specs.

[smitty3268]

I don't get the people arguing that Canonical should fund this themselves. If you were running a business, would you put 32 mil of your own money into creating a product that there may not be a market for?

Think about it, this only makes sense. If the goal is met then it proves that the idea of the Ubuntu edge is viable and everybody wins (except the irrational haters). If the goal is not met, then it just shows there isn't a market for the edge but then no money is wasted developing it so it can just sit in warehouses (like the surface RT) so nobody loses(Except Canonical in the eyes of the irrational haters).

You may not like Canonical for whatever reasons but you should at least be able to admit that this a brilliant strategy.

Oh yeah, it's a brilliant move by Canonical. It's the suckers paying for this that are getting hosed, and the truly great thing from Canonical's point of view is that they won't even realize it.

Mark will probably just make up whatever they can't raise, because he's not going to let this turn into a failure. He'll just have to risk less of his own money for every person he can convince to donate capital.

[mrugiero]

I don't get the people arguing that Canonical should fund this themselves. If you were running a business, would you put 32 mil of your own money into creating a product that there may not be a market for?

Errr, that's what investing is about. You never know in advance how it will turn out.

Think about it, this only makes sense. If the goal is met then it proves that the idea of the Ubuntu edge is viable and everybody wins (except the irrational haters). If the goal is not met, then it just shows there isn't a market for the edge but then no money is wasted developing it so it can just sit in warehouses (like the surface RT) so nobody loses(Except Canonical in the eyes of the irrational haters).

Fair enough. This doesn't take out the fact every other provider invests money and actually pay revenues to their investors if their idea fails. My answers were mostly targeted to the kind of answer BO$$ gives, as "blah blah, real companies should guide Linux". I do think it's smart to use this kind of system, but this is not what serious, well established companies does. And I do think it's wrong this plan doesn't come with a promise of a percentage on the revenues for the funding, since accepting it or denying it, this funds at the very least the design phase.

You may not like Canonical for whatever reasons but you should at least be able to admit that this a brilliant strategy.

I admit it's brilliant, and I already pointed out it's main value was PR. Didn't consider it might be a somewhat acceptable market study, at some extent. Not that getting enough funds means this would be bought mainstream, but it shows at least that there are some people paying attention to this.

[jayrulez]

I don't get the people arguing that Canonical should fund this themselves. If you were running a business, would you put 32 mil of your own money into creating a product that there may not be a market for?

Think about it, this only makes sense. If the goal is met then it proves that the idea of the Ubuntu edge is viable and everybody wins (except the irrational haters). If the goal is not met, then it just shows there isn't a market for the edge but then no money is wasted developing it so it can just sit in warehouses (like the surface RT) so nobody loses(Except Canonical in the eyes of the irrational haters).

You may not like Canonical for whatever reasons but you should at least be able to admit that this a brilliant strategy.

[mrugiero]

i am sure they have

A) I think canonical/mark should of funded this and then sold the phones via ubuntu to make a profit or simply get their investment back.

I believe the crowdsourcing might be just a way to boost PR. It would show a lot more interest to raise that much money from potential customers directly in a month than to simply releasing an end product. The point is in achieving it a way nobody else did. Make a hype, get collective hysteria, and that leads to better sales. Profit.

C) Since canonical took the crowd sourcing route why on earth did they need a 3rd party like indiegogo instead of hosting and processing this themselves. Over a million saved in money not going to indigogo and over half the money saved in paypal/credit card fees doing it yourself.

Probably part of the PR.

[johnc]

well second day slowed down by a lot only $3.600.000

There goes a real surprise.

[jrch2k8]

well second day slowed down by a lot only $3.600.000

[DDF420]

Probably Canonical and any other project founder have included to the total amount the costs for those tools (paypal, indiegogo) and probably if they had any better way to make it happen they would!

i am sure they have

A) I think canonical/mark should of funded this and then sold the phones via ubuntu to make a profit or simply get their investment back.

B) I dont mind small start ups with no other ability to get start up capital using crowd sourcing to raise capital. it leaves a bad taste when a billionaire isnt willing to invest in 40000 units in an industry selling almost a billion phones a year.

C) Since canonical took the crowd sourcing route why on earth did they need a 3rd party like indiegogo instead of hosting and processing this themselves. Over a million saved in money not going to indigogo and over half the money saved in paypal/credit card fees doing it yourself.

[verde]

Again, it isn't a matter of giving out free phones. Canonical isn't just asking people to pre-order the phone, they are asking people to help fund the development of the phone to completion.

800$ (preorders) x 40.000 devices (production target) = 32.000.000$

Thats the development cost. either they sell one or 40.000 (target) devices.

If they produce more than 40.000 the development cost may decrease but then they would need more money for production reasons and retail services. They found out that 40.000 production target was the perfect balance between cost, retail price and probably risk.

Shuttleworth explains that clearly i think in this video below

As an accountant i can understand the reasons for the size of production and how it is balanced with cost. Its pure economics. Its really logical.

If they end up with more than 32.000.000$ when indiegogo campaign ends, this is probably like a donation because they can't sold more than 40.000 devices (remember 800x40.000) and thats why they accept less than 800$ funds.

People that donated 5-10-20 dollars will not get (and they know it) the phone. They probably find a way to say thank you to their main desktop that is free (in contrast to Red Hat's or Novell's desktop OS for example) or to help mobile industry to go to the next level. Those hardware specifications are unique.