A UK software developer Canonical has set a record for the most money raised in a crowdfunding campaign. They did it with a project to develop a new smartphone, which gathered pledges of over $10 million.
Canonical confirmed that its fundraising for Ubuntu Edge phone has secured pledges worth over $10 million within a month on the Indiegogo crowdfunding service, outrunning the previous record set by the Pebble smartwatch. Ubuntu developers are planning to deliver their first handsets in May 2014, and pledgers donating $700 will receive their own devices in return. Thus far, over 14,500 smartphones had already been pledged for.
Media group Bloomberg has also joined the campaign and pledged $80,000 for an enterprise package of 115 devices. Canonical founder admitted that Bloomberg’s level of interest was surprising and had prompted interest from some large handset makers. Over 22,000 pledges have come from all over the globe – most donations arrived from the United States and Europe.
It should be noted that the pledges may never be redeemed, because the developers must meet their minimum fundraising goal of $32 million to claim the money, while the end of the campaign is near. However, the Canonical campaign had already smashed the previous record set on the pledge service: back in 2012, Scanadu Scout managed to raise $1.7 million to develop a medical tricorder able to read vital signs and send them wirelessly to a smartphone.
Canonical, currently employing 500 people in 30 countries, creates open source software for servers and cloud infrastructure. The company was originally established to create a desktop OS alternative to Windows, but with the computing moving from the desktop to mobile devices had to switch its attention to smartphones.
The Ubuntu Edge runs on both Ubuntu and Google’s Android software. The device can also be connected to a desktop PC, allowing the phone to become the brain of a personal computer running on Ubuntu’s OS, with files stored on the handset visible on the PC screen. Media group Bloomberg has announced its involvement earlier in August. The company has its own team designing and creating software for mobile devices and says it sees Ubuntu Edge as an exciting prospect, complementing its vision for open development on the mobile platform.
Canonical confirmed that its fundraising for Ubuntu Edge phone has secured pledges worth over $10 million within a month on the Indiegogo crowdfunding service, outrunning the previous record set by the Pebble smartwatch. Ubuntu developers are planning to deliver their first handsets in May 2014, and pledgers donating $700 will receive their own devices in return. Thus far, over 14,500 smartphones had already been pledged for.
Media group Bloomberg has also joined the campaign and pledged $80,000 for an enterprise package of 115 devices. Canonical founder admitted that Bloomberg’s level of interest was surprising and had prompted interest from some large handset makers. Over 22,000 pledges have come from all over the globe – most donations arrived from the United States and Europe.
It should be noted that the pledges may never be redeemed, because the developers must meet their minimum fundraising goal of $32 million to claim the money, while the end of the campaign is near. However, the Canonical campaign had already smashed the previous record set on the pledge service: back in 2012, Scanadu Scout managed to raise $1.7 million to develop a medical tricorder able to read vital signs and send them wirelessly to a smartphone.
Canonical, currently employing 500 people in 30 countries, creates open source software for servers and cloud infrastructure. The company was originally established to create a desktop OS alternative to Windows, but with the computing moving from the desktop to mobile devices had to switch its attention to smartphones.
The Ubuntu Edge runs on both Ubuntu and Google’s Android software. The device can also be connected to a desktop PC, allowing the phone to become the brain of a personal computer running on Ubuntu’s OS, with files stored on the handset visible on the PC screen. Media group Bloomberg has announced its involvement earlier in August. The company has its own team designing and creating software for mobile devices and says it sees Ubuntu Edge as an exciting prospect, complementing its vision for open development on the mobile platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment