Canonical may not be close to their target of $32 million wit the Ubuntu Edge, but the company has successfully become the most crowdfunded campaign ever, with Pebble in a close second and Ouya $2 million behind.
The Ubuntu Edge is in a different class to second and third, with Canonical being an established company with years of software experience and genuine hardware and software partners. The Ubuntu Edge is not a sample of Android, it is the first phone running Ubuntu OS and is one of the first smartphones to work as a desktop substitute when plugged into a monitor.
Canonical has added a $7000 Enterprise Starter package to the campaign, allowing smaller businesses to grab 10 Ubuntu Edge units, access to the online workshop and fourteen days of tech support from Canonical to get the business ready to use Ubuntu and Android in the workplace.
This is a small move and may work for those businesses not ready to spend $80,000 on the full enterprise package. With only one buyer, the big investors seem uninterested in the Ubuntu Edge. Bloomberg is currently the only company to pledge into the Enterprise package.
If Canonical can pick up the pace from $360,000 per day to around $1.2 million, they will hit their goal of $32 million. It is entirely possible Canonical will fund the rest or the company will add a huge enterprise package for some real investors in the project.
Even if it is the most successful crowdfunded campaign, it will mean nothing if Canonical does not reach their goal with the Ubuntu Edge.
