{"id":2775,"date":"2013-08-28T07:24:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T12:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2013-08-28T07:39:06","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T12:39:06","slug":"ubuntu-edge-failure-and-what-it-means-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2013\/08\/28\/ubuntu-edge-failure-and-what-it-means-to-me","title":{"rendered":"Ubuntu Edge failure and what it means to me"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I received a credit from Indiegogo, because the USD$600 that I pledged for the Ubuntu Edge<\/a> didn’t work out (I pledged on day one not because it was cheap but because I felt I needed the device and thank Canonical for the wonderful work they’ve done in addition to being brave about going into new markets; I would have paid $895 if need be – we don’t get heavily subsidised phones where I come from). There was a lot of buzz about how this is the largest crowdfunding experience ever, and so on, but to me, as a believer in opensource, I feel this failure to get an Ubuntu Edge more than ever.<\/p>\n

It was by no means a shoddy amount that was pledged, in the sense that it raised USD$12,813,501 out of the USD$32,000,000 goal. I was curious with who pledged, and this is quite public as well – see the pledges list<\/a>. But what you see is that a lot of people pledged not for the phone but smaller amounts which I guess is a huge problem.<\/p>\n

Simply put, you need about 50,000 people (community members\/Ubuntu users\/etc.) to pledge to buy the phone (at an average sale price of USD$695). A mere 50,000<\/strong>. I planned to analyze the data, but its great that The Guardian did most of the work for me, so read:\u00a0Ubuntu Edge: how many phones were really ordered – and the mistakes<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

14,577 individuals pledged to order the phone. Enterprises were shy by the looks of it.<\/p>\n

Out of the 14,577 individuals, I expect many of them to be Ubuntu users to some extent (if not lovers of opensource). Where are the rest of the Ubuntu users?<\/p>\n

The public stats for Ubuntu<\/a> are quite impressive – generally it is the most popular desktop Linux distribution out there. Just look at the adoption & reception<\/a>: in June 2009, it was estimated that there are 13 million active users; in fall 2011 Canonical itself estimated more than 20 million users worldwide. This number must have grown tremendously, but even at a 20 million base, you’re looking at 0.073% conversion rate<\/strong> to buy an Ubuntu Edge.<\/p>\n

I know people that are Ubuntu users and wanted to buy it, but not at the price point. Over $600 for a phone with a computer that docks just isn’t feasible as a cost in many parts of the developing world. Without user registration, we can’t tell where Ubuntu users are located, but I’m willing to bet it’s a good mix between the developed\/developing world, right?<\/p>\n

I was hoping to hold an Edge in my hand come May 2014. I’m still hoping<\/a> to hold an Ubuntu mobile device in my hand. While I am disappointed, I can imagine Mark Shuttleworth asking himself a lot of questions. He’s spent millions developing Ubuntu, the community that surrounds it and the commercial aspects around it. Apparently monetizing the userbase is harder than it looks.<\/p>\n

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