Canonical Launches Developer Competition To Boost Its Mobile OS

Canonical has launched the second annual Ubuntu App Showdown, a competition that challenges developers to create new apps using the Ubuntu SDK and Ubuntu Touch mobile platform.

The submissions can include both original and ported apps, written in various programming language.

The App Showdown will run for six weeks, and three winners will each receive an LG Nexus 4 phone running Ubuntu Touch. More importantly, they will have an opportunity to work with Canonical’s design and engineering team to have their app included in the default Ubuntu Touch installation images for phones and tablets.

In anticipation

Ubuntu Touch offers a fully-featured Linux experience on a smartphone or tablet, with an interface designed for touch interaction and smaller screen size. Canonical hopes to take on iOS and Android with its open source creation, which, among other things, can actually transform into a PC once connected to a monitor and Bluetooth keyboard.

Just like the last competition, this year’s Ubuntu App Showdown will focus on the smartphone version of the OS. It will run until 15 September, with participation open to anyone. The apps can be written using C++ and Qt, JavaScript and QML, HTML 5 and the SDK stylesheets, or OpenGL.

Obviously, the software must be developed under an open source license that allows Canonical and any other recipient of the code to distribute it. The winners will be selected by a team of five judges including Canonical staff and people from the wider Ubuntu community.

The prizes will be awarded in two categories: two for original apps, created specifically for Ubuntu Touch, and one for ported apps that already exist on other mobile platforms.

Besides winning a smartphone, all valid entries will also become available for install on Ubuntu Touch devices, with some of them possibly included in the default installation image.

You can find more information about Ubuntu App Showdown on the Canonical website.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg has become the first major corporate backer of the Ubuntu Edge ‘superphone’, which will feature the latest multi-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and obviously run Ubuntu Touch. The news agency has pledged $80,000 towards the project, contributing 0.25 percent to Canonical’s ambitious funding goal of $32 million (£20.8m).

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