Ubuntu recently announced its Phone OS.
It was long in the works and was delayed after last year's anticipated launch. But finally its here.
And while it was showcased at the CES 2013, it was only on demo hardware. There has not been a clear answer from Canonical (the Mark Shuttelworth led outfit that develops Ubuntu OS, about the likelihood of and definite carriers or hardware vendor committment. Last heard, its rumored to be launched in the Q4 of calendar 2013 or Q1 2014.
That said, its not all doom and gloom. While many analysts have commented that Ubuntu OS is late in the game and stands no chance without any hardware platform, there can be hardly and doubt that the Smartphone market is now a highly polarized market. The one side is the Linux kernel based Android camp that is the worldwide leader compared to the iphone that is a single vendor lock-in. Nobody denies their presence however, there is always a room for an entrant that can prevent the consumer choice from becoming bipolarized. What really needs to be seen is how effectively can Canonical convert the news about its newborn phone OS into a curiosity in the minds of the consumer. And only once that curiosity is evoked there will be any interest in the new platform. Ofcourse, this has to to with a definitive hardware platform. So far we have heard none but we will like to be wrong about that. The more the OS platform is popularized among the hardware vendors, the more chances of it being noticed. That said, there is great need to have the Marketing and messaging piece in order so there can be an atmosphere of awareness about the product.
On the onset the various demos we have seen about the OS hints that they have thought through about the design aspect well enough to make the best use of all real estate on the phone screen. That however needs to be optimized with a single focus hardware platform and lots of PR/promotions.
The good news is that this only increases the ubiquity of Linux platform in the market and mind of the consumer. Good job so far from Ubuntu. A lot needs to be covered yet...
It was long in the works and was delayed after last year's anticipated launch. But finally its here.
And while it was showcased at the CES 2013, it was only on demo hardware. There has not been a clear answer from Canonical (the Mark Shuttelworth led outfit that develops Ubuntu OS, about the likelihood of and definite carriers or hardware vendor committment. Last heard, its rumored to be launched in the Q4 of calendar 2013 or Q1 2014.
That said, its not all doom and gloom. While many analysts have commented that Ubuntu OS is late in the game and stands no chance without any hardware platform, there can be hardly and doubt that the Smartphone market is now a highly polarized market. The one side is the Linux kernel based Android camp that is the worldwide leader compared to the iphone that is a single vendor lock-in. Nobody denies their presence however, there is always a room for an entrant that can prevent the consumer choice from becoming bipolarized. What really needs to be seen is how effectively can Canonical convert the news about its newborn phone OS into a curiosity in the minds of the consumer. And only once that curiosity is evoked there will be any interest in the new platform. Ofcourse, this has to to with a definitive hardware platform. So far we have heard none but we will like to be wrong about that. The more the OS platform is popularized among the hardware vendors, the more chances of it being noticed. That said, there is great need to have the Marketing and messaging piece in order so there can be an atmosphere of awareness about the product.
On the onset the various demos we have seen about the OS hints that they have thought through about the design aspect well enough to make the best use of all real estate on the phone screen. That however needs to be optimized with a single focus hardware platform and lots of PR/promotions.
The good news is that this only increases the ubiquity of Linux platform in the market and mind of the consumer. Good job so far from Ubuntu. A lot needs to be covered yet...
