Edge of Ubuntu: 5 reasons that the campaign was a great success

Opinion:At the beginning it was clear that the Board would not hit its Unbuntu ambitious $ 32 million funding target crowd funding. After the initial peak of commitments the trend showed that would fall short. But that doesn't mean it was a failure. Actually there are many reasons why the Ubuntu campaign should be celebrated.

This is obvious. While the Board lost its ambitious target Ubuntu, still raised $12,8 million and broke the record of commitments in crowd funding process. That is a massive support not only the same phone book of Ubuntu, but trust that people have in Ubuntu.

Most important was the contribution of $ 80,000 from Bloomberg, a huge and very influential. Without the campaign would be all too easy to dismiss the concept of Ubuntu Edge: cannot reject it now.

Or, to put it another way, it shows Ubuntu is a true leader and innovator when it comes to mobile computing technology. While Ubuntu offers an ambitious concept and pushing to the limit, such as Apple, Samsung and Google are busy squeezing more money out of their flagship brands: Apple with the next budget iPhone 5 C; Samsung with endless variations of the Galaxy S4; Google with the mainstream, mass-market products like the Nexus and Nexus 7 4, albeit with a small hat tip towards Google Glass.

I not mistaken: there is nothing wrong with providing good quality, mainstream products. But nobody can say with a straight face that adding a higher resolution screen, or eye-tracking ' technology ', is innovation. The big brands are ideas, but Ubuntu is not.

This article is proof enough that the edge of Ubuntu did wonders for the profile of Ubuntu. I write a lot about Ubuntu as a general rule, yet here I am discussing the merits. And some very unscientific research shows that's the edge of Ubuntu Ubuntu gave an unprecedented level of exposure.

A search for ' Edge ' on Google Ubuntu View 28 million results with phone coverage from all the world's largest media. Any person of good PR will tell you that widespread coverage in mainstream press helps make the niche brands soar, and it's still true even in the age of Twitter, Reddit and Facebook (not Google Plus, don't be silly).

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu parent company Canonical Ltd., was alluding to this point in his last updated:

"All the support and advertising continued to guide our discussions with some major manufacturers, and we have many mobile networks in the world already signed for the carrier's Advisory Group of Ubuntu. They were watching this global discussion of Ubuntu and the need for innovation very tightly. Watch this space! "

Obviously it's in his interest to talk about this point, but definitely nothing opens the door better than $ 12 millions of genuine support and advertising worldwide? I find it hard to believe that there is a telephony manufacturer out there that is interested in being associated with making the ' smartphone ' first Ubuntu similarly Asus became so closely connected as the company behind the hugely successful Nexus 7 and its follow-up, the Nexus 7 2.

Momentum is important, just ask Microsoft. At the time that the brand or the product starts to melt into the public consciousness, the easier it is for people to write it as an also-ran.

This is not to say Ubuntu is now a major player: it isn't. But with computation becoming more mobile, not to have an opinion and a presence in that space would make Ubuntu look irrelevant and tired. Now the opposite is true. Ubuntu has a vision for mobile and (within reason) knows.

Andy Vandervell is Deputy Director at Trusted reviews. He tweets at www.twitter.com/andyvan and follow him on Google Plus.

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