Bloomberg has become the first major corporate backer of the Ubuntu Edge, pledging $80,000 towards the project to build a crowdfunded smartphone, but this is unlikely to be enough to help Canonical reach its ambitious funding goal of $32 million (£20.8m).
Canonical says the pledge is a huge boost for the company and other backers who want to get their hands on the world’s first “truly converged computing device”, but at the time of writing, the Ubuntu Edge has achieved just $8,544,097 of its target with just 14 days of fund raising left.
Bloomberg has signed up for the ‘Enterprise 100 perk’ which would give it 100 Ubuntu Edge smartphones as well as access to a range of workshops and technical support.
“Bloomberg supports open innovation and initiatives, such as Ubuntu Edge, that align with our software development and business priorities,” said Shawn Edwards, chief technology officer at Bloomberg. “With this investment, Bloomberg developers will contribute to an open technology initiative that could benefit our clients and have a powerful impact on the future of mobile computing.”
“Bloomberg’s developers are already designing and building software for advanced devices because our clients demand a seamless experience from the desktop to the mobile platform,” added Justin Erenkrantz, head of web architecture at Bloomberg. “Ubuntu’s goal to offer a single-device solution for enterprise convergence and mobility is an exciting prospect and one that complements our vision for open development on the mobile platform.”
Canonical claims the Ubuntu Edge will not be made if it does not achieve its funding goal and told TechWeekEurope that the target was deliberately ambitious to show other manufacturers the demand for Ubuntu mobile and what was possible with the operating system.
However the company is confident that even if it doesn’t raise the money, it will have generated enough publicity for other manufacturers to build handsets using the platform.
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"It said it had pledged the money because of the open nature of Ubuntu Mobile and the seamless transition from a desktop to mobile environment made possible with the platform."
You can run Android or Ubuntu Touch. When docked to a monitor, keybord and mouse, it can also run a full desktop, not just a scaled up phone OS. With thinclient access you can even run MS Office and business application straight from the phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtNhlVn3ETQ&t=3m4s
To manage the phones you can use a service called Landscape.
http://www.ubuntu.com/management