ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Melvin Carvalho <melvincarvalho@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 7 September 2016 at 20:47, Bob Summerwill <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> >> Are OEMs not queuing up to ship devices running Touch?
>
> I suspect that the answer to that is "no".
>
> If, as seems likely, both BQ and Meizu have no immediate plans to ship
> further Ubuntu Touch devices then that likely means that it is not
> economically beneficial to them to do so.   That certainly isn't an
> appealing market for other OEMs to join.    Canonical would likely be
> pouring their money down the drain with such a device.
>
> Mozilla went through a very similar journey with Firefox OS, though with
> way more devices and way more traction.   They ended up giving up on the
> device side, and focusing on just community ports, and on application of
> the OS to new (non-mobile) markets.
>
> Mobile is a tough, tough market to compete with.    Commodity Android
> devices are very, very compelling to the mass market.    Mobile Linux is a
> really niche.   See the troubles Jolla have experienced too.     Even
> Samsung are struggling to make any kind of impact with Tizen - though that
> likely has more to do with their own internal politics than any lack of
> resourcing or ability to sell large volumes.
>
> My personal feeling is that mobile is now "mature", and uninteresting,
> like the PC market.   Who really cares if you have an ASUS or an Acer or a
> HP or whatever.    They have razor-thin markets and little differentiation.
>    I think that is where mobile is getting to be, with Android as the
> Windows, and iOS as the Mac.    So iOS is premium and profitable, "because
> Apple", but Android is the de-facto standard, commodity and unprofitable.
>   That is a really unappealing place to try to build a third platform.
>
> Android has utterly skewed manufacturing too, to my understanding, so that
> if you want to get a SoC now, you are going to get Android bootloaders and
> drivers on it.   As blobs.   And you're just going to have to suck that up.
>    Want X11 drivers?   No way.
>
> Tizen is the only mobile Linux which hasn't just made the pragmatic choice
> of avoiding the issue by using Hybris.   For everybody else, Android has
> become the de-facto HAL :-)
>
> So yeah... I have an MX5 Pro as my daily driver and love it.   MX4 before
> that.    But I don't have much hope of any future Ubuntu Touch mobile
> devices.    I think we're likely walking dead, but just haven't stopped
> walking yet.
>
> So maybe Jolla and Tizen are the "last men standing" in this space?    For
> mobile profile, at least.    Tablets are a different story.   Ditto IoT and
> Ubuntu Snappy Core.
>

Very nice thread.  Android phones to my mind are quite limited.

I think ubuntu phone needs to capture people's imaginations by giving
examples of what this phone can (at least potentially) do, that other
phones cannot.

Ubuntu phones are not only about convergence, but of course, I love that
features.  They are about protecting privacy, which research shows that
between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 people really want.  Another killer feature is
the ability to run all those amazing things you run on ubuntu right there
on the phone, not sandboxed rather limited apps.  The final area where I
can see ubuntu phone getting ahead of android is by having a decent browser
which android phones seem very limited by.

Id buy a canonical branded phone, but maybe it's a bit early, prices of
hardware are shooting down and the UX of the ubuntu phone is improving each
month.


>
> On Wed, Sep 7, 2016 at 10:49 AM, mark <j.m.holmes@xxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> +1
>>
>> The same thought had crossed my mind. Touch seems to be reaching the
>> point of maturity where something of the Edge's specs might come to
>> fruition. It would be a winner, imho.
>>
>> Are OEMs not queuing up to ship devices running Touch?
>>
>> m
>>
>> On 07/09/16 14:32, Art wrote:
>>
>> Question.......
>>
>> I read all the comments, and I am now curious.....
>>
>> What is to stop Canonical from releasing their own branded phones right
>> now?? Just because the current 'offering' isn't Canonical branded, Is there
>> anything that prevents them from selling a Canonical branded phone later
>> on??
>>
>> After all, now we know that a linux based phone actually works, what is
>> to stop Canonical (or even myself) from seeking out an independent phone
>> OEM, buying them in bulk and rebranding them, complete with the linux
>> software already installed?
>>
>> Great list all, I hope to see the linux phone succeed! It's about time we
>> take back control of our own phones and block all the 'features' that rob
>> us of our privacy!!
>>
>> Art
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 09/05/2016 10:49 AM, Krzysztof Tataradziński wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi
>>
>> Did anyone from Canonical considered to 'simply' develop phone themselves
>> alone, order it in factory and sell with Canonical brand?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
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