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Mobile Version of Ubuntu Announced
Arrives Sometime in Early 2014

Canonical today unveiled the mobile version of Ubuntu, which should start appearing on smartphones sometime in early 2014. According to the platform's website, the mobile version of Ubuntu utilizes the Android kernel and drivers, but won't use Java Virtual Machine, will be open source, run native apps, and will be targeted toward everything from the low-end phone market to the high-end tinkering set. In a virtual keynote, founder Mark Shuttleworth insisted they're targeting the platform at all devices.

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"We deeply believe all these different types of computing - phones, tablets, PCs, smart TVs, servers, cloud, supercomputers - can in fact run off one common platform," said Shuttleworth. "You’ll see a beautiful reflection of yourself, a visualization of your life crafted by an artist, ever-changing, totally personal, and completely unique, just like you," pitched Shuttleworth during the presentation.

Granted before Ubunto and Canonical can make any kind of splash in the Android and iOS dominated market, they'll need hardware vendor support. Yet they've not announced a single hardware partner, and their long-term launch target data has many wondering if the platform will ever really materialize at all. More than a few are comparing the announcement to Palm's webOS unveiling at CES in 2009.

Still, this week's announcement seems to be generating plenty of conversation about what's truly possible on a mobile platform and what's missing from current leading platforms.
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brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Tampa, FL

brianiscool

Member

Failed

I don't see Linux apps to be successful as Android.

kdwycha
join:2003-01-30
Ruskin, FL

kdwycha

Member

Re: Failed

said by brianiscool:

I don't see Linux apps to be successful as Android.

Arent all android apps now linux anyway? I thought android was run on linux kernel.
brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Tampa, FL

brianiscool

Member

Re: Failed

No they are made from Java.
NoHereNoMo
join:2012-12-06

NoHereNoMo to brianiscool

Member

to brianiscool
Android is to Linux as Ubuntu-on-a-mobile-device is to... Linux.
eco
Premium Member
join:2001-11-28
Wilmington, DE

eco

Premium Member

Re: Failed

Android uses the Linux kernel. However, most of the user facing parts of the OS and apps run in a Java VM like environment called dalvik and are not 'native Linux' like this mobile version of Ubuntu are claiming to be.
brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Tampa, FL

brianiscool

Member

Re: Failed

2014 will be too late. At that time Android OS will own 90% of the market share. Who wants to pay $1000 unlocked IPHONE? When you can get the top of the line Android phone for $500 plus triple the processor power?
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: Failed

Someone who sunk a lot of money into apps. Apps are good leverage at keeping people on your platform.
NoHereNoMo
join:2012-12-06

NoHereNoMo to eco

Member

to eco
I don't doubt that this was one of the ultimate goals of Unity from the start.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to brianiscool

Premium Member

to brianiscool
said by brianiscool:

I don't see Linux apps to be successful as Android.

^
Fail!!

Wouldn't put Ubuntu on my phone in a million years with as many times as their updates have screwed my desktop installs up! In fact, wouldn't/won't put any variation of that distro on my desktop again!!

exocet_cm
Writing
Premium Member
join:2003-03-23
Brooklyn, NY

exocet_cm

Premium Member

Marketing pitch

quote:
"You’ll see a beautiful reflection of yourself, a visualization of your life crafted by an artist, ever-changing, totally personal, and completely unique, just like you," pitched Shuttleworth during the presentation.
Aside from the creepy sounding marketing pitch, I'm looking forward to it.

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron

Premium Member

Re: Marketing pitch

said by exocet_cm:

Aside from the creepy sounding marketing pitch, I'm looking forward to it.

Same here... say what you want about Ubuntu, but when they're determined to carve their way into a market, they make waves.
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

interesting

Hmm, this could be interesting
pkorx8
join:2003-06-19
San Francisco, CA

pkorx8

Member

Could be a good thing... for Android?

This could be a good thing for Android.
It seems one of the big challenge for Android has been the kernel developments and updates for all the different hardware platforms.
If Ubuntu goes in on this, maybe Ubuntu may share some of the kernel development efforts.

Sorry if I'm way off on this, I'm not a Linux developer.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Ubuntu

Canonical is grasping at straws it seems. Mobile Ubuntu will fail. They are joining the party way too late.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Ubuntu

this is about far more than a mobile phone. I'm more interested in it being a thin client.
raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN

raythompsontn

Member

Re: Ubuntu

said by ArrayList:

I'm more interested in it being a thin client.

That was one of my new year resolutions, to become a thinner client.

someone
@northropgrumman.com

someone to silbaco

Anon

to silbaco
said by silbaco:

Canonical is grasping at straws it seems. Mobile Ubuntu will fail. They are joining the party way too late.

I fail to see how it's "too late" for them. This industry is really just getting started.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: Ubuntu

They are entering an industry unwilling to take any more risks. Ubuntu doesn't bring anything new to the table and they don't have an app store anywhere close to their competitors.
big_e
join:2011-03-05

big_e

Member

Low quality incomplete software

Unity has been out for about 2 1/2 years. Overall I still consider it to be only early beta quality software. Although some linux users are patient enough to deal with the default desktop environment still being a work in progress, the general public will not be. They will want a product that has the same sets of features and polish as all the other smartphone operating systems. They do not want to be Ubuntu's beta tester, waiting for the missing feature they wanted to be partially implemented in the next six month release. Unfortunately I don't see Cannonical being able to pull this off and creating a product of sufficient quality and functionality to be usable outside a niche of linux users.

bbchris2nd
Joke Factory
join:2010-09-03
Australia

bbchris2nd

Member

Looking forward to it

I will

netwire
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Dallas, NC

netwire

Premium Member

re

This is something I am waiting for. Sure, it might take awhile but it's another option and options are good things to have. Most of the apps can run as HTML5, but of course native apps would run much better. I run Ubuntu on my laptop, Windows 8 on my Dekstop and Android (custom AOSP) on my phone but honestly if this made it out of the gates I would most likely transition everything to Ubuntu. The only real roadblock for me right now from running this on my desktop is native support for World of Warcraft
MyDogHsFleas
Premium Member
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX

MyDogHsFleas

Premium Member

Tough to see how this is going to achieve market share

Smartphone success is all about the apps, as long as the platform is good enough. And apps are all about developers spending resources to develop for the platform. Why would developers build for a platform that is not native to the smartphone and requires users to install/configure/maintain it, therefore guaranteeing that 90% (conservatively) of Android smartphone owners won't do that?

And remember the platform is not just what's on the phone, it's the ecosystem around it. App Store with hundreds of thousands of apps, support available from the vendor, major apps like social media and games integrated nicely. Where will that come from?

Performance and battery life are also going to be huge issues. Google and Apple spend a ton of dev resource getting these right. Can the open source community keep up?

We've already seen Canonical fail to get any traction on desktops in a decade. And that is in many ways an easier market than smartphones.

netwire
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Dallas, NC

netwire

Premium Member

Re: Tough to see how this is going to achieve market share

I would say that the open source community can keep up. If you have every owned an Android phone and have tinkered with it by installing custom roms and kernels then you would know that often times these custom roms and kernels have far better performance and battery life than what the phone original came with.