The Ubuntu Edge is one of the most ambitious campaigns we have ever seen on IndieGogo, asking for $27 million to fund a smartphone is quite the feat, but Canonical has pushed hard to make the project a success.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be going well for Canonical. With two weeks left, the project is a little over $9 million and not very close to $27 million, the number Canonical were hoping to get for their Ubuntu OS “Nexus” device.
This means Canonical would have to make $1 million every day from the project, at the current rate they are getting about $500,000 in funding. We either need to see real industry backing or Canonical donating their own money into the project.
There have been some reasons why the Ubuntu Edge has gained less funding than it could have, firstly, the team keeps changing the pricing on the Ubuntu Edge, first at $600, then $795 then $695, with different tiers for the quickest buyers.
This has put many on the edge, especially those who decided to pay $795 for the smartphone only to find out they could have it for $695 now. The changes to the price have effected the funders and Canonical may have lost a few hundred supporters due to the decision to backtrack three times on pricing.
Another reason for the slow backing is Canonical’s options, normally a crowdsourced project has plenty of price options, even if most are just a t-shirt, Ubuntu OS app and other cosmetics/cheap funds. Normally outselling the project for anyone to chip into is better than having strict tier packages.
The Ubuntu Edge is unquestionably one of the best devices we have seen this year, it has the looks and the internals are bleeding edge, shoving anything on Android into the water. Essentially the Edge needs to be capable of running Ubuntu mobile and desktop OS as well as Android.
