Ubuntu Touch Mobile OS Set For 17 October Launch

Undeterred by the failure of its recent crowdsourcing campaign to build the Ubuntu Edge superphone, Canonical will launch Ubuntu Touch on 17 October.

Nicholas Skaggs, community coordinator for Canonical, confirmed on his blog earlier this week that the mobile operating system would be available in “exactly one month” and has encouraged users to continue testing for bugs ahead of the release.

In order to help out, users must have a compatible handset, which at the moment must be a Google Nexus device. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and LG Nexus 4 smartphones and the Google Nexus 7 and Google Nexus 10 tablets.

Ubuntu Mobile

Canonical had hoped to release its own Ubuntu Mobile-powered smartphone, the Ubuntu Edge, and to raise $32 million ($20.8m), but despite becoming the world’s biggest ever fixed crowdfunding campaign, it missed its target by two thirds.

A total of $12,809,906 (£8,228,625) was raised, with support coming from 20,000 people, along with Bloomberg, which gave $80,000 (£51,000), and several smaller businesses.

However, Canonical remained confident that the publicity and support would encourage other manufacturers to support the project, with CEO Mark Shuttleworth promising smartphones running the platform would be released in 2014.

He said the project had advanced discussions with manufacturers, while a number of the world’s biggest mobile networks have signed up to the Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group.

Ubuntu Mobile is just one of a number of open source mobile operating systems to emerge in the last few years, with Sailfish, Tizen and Firefox OS all looking to position themselves as genuine alternatives to iOS and Android.

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