[Discuss] Canonical crowdfunding $32 million for phone

[tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)]

Canonical is using crowdfunding site indiegogo to try and raise $32
million to produce the Ubuntu Edge phone:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge

That's a record high amount for a crowdfunding campaign, but they say it
needs to be that high in order to produce the phone at a large enough
scale to convince telcos that they can supply millions of units.

In the first 24 hours they've already raised $3.6 million from about
2000 backers, 4 of which pledged $10K. Pledge $830 and you'll be
rewarded with a phone, otherwise $20 buys you the warm fuzzy feeling of
having supported the project.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge?c=activity

  At 4pm yesterday we introduced the Ubuntu Edge to the world, and we
  didn't have to wait long to see the reaction. ... We hit $1 million in
  under five hours, and $2 million not long after that. We've now
  passed the 10% line, which shows just how much demand there is out
  there for the Edge's radical new approach to mobile technology.

29 days to go.

Oddly the campaign page and video hardly makes any mention of Canonical,
I only see their name listed as one of several people on the campaign's
team at the bottom of the page. (Though the update page has a video from
Canonical's CEO.) Seems like they are trying to make this look like more
of a community undertaking, than a corporate funding exercise.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/