Ubuntu Edge campaign ends at $12.8 million

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It saddens me a little that the new Ubuntu Edge Project did not reach it's goal of $32 million but it didn't come as a surprise. It is a considerable amount of money and the campaign was most successful in the first few days. However the bar for the future of smartphones has been set.

Next month the new iPhone will be revealed, and the first thing people will do will be to compare it to the the phone that could have been. It would have been great to have a device could be my primary phone and my main computer at the same time. Since smartphones are just computers that pretend to be phones it would have made sense to own one.

What went wrong?

Nothing went wrong. Manufacturing is expensive and complicated. There are so many regulations for manufacturing that end up killing promising kickstarter or indiegogo projects before they see the light, even if they get over-funded. If a game changing device could have been created for any less the $32 million, I am sure Canonical wouldn't have a need to ask for funding.

$12.8 million is not a small amount either. So far it is a record breaker on indiegogo.com. It also means there is a demand for such a device. I am sure a year from now, it will be the norm to have a phone that is also a fully functional desktop machine. iOS, Windows, or Ubuntu, whatever it is if a phone does any less it will be a disappointment.

What's next?

First of all, all the money will be refunded. We will go on with our lives. But I bet Google, Apple, and Microsoft are back to their drawing boards and making sure that their next device will at least deliver the features promised by the Ubuntu Edge.

Part One: Ubuntu Edge: Full Ubuntu OS on my phone, A dream coming to reality

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