Canonical Announces Ubuntu Smartphones
Phone vendor partnerships bring Mark Shuttleworth's dream of Ubuntu on a phone a step closer to reality.
Canonical crossed a major hurdle in its effort to enter the mobile arena with the announcement that two mobile phone makers have agreed to manufacture Ubuntu smartphones. The Chinese Meizu MX3 and Spanish BQ Aquarius phones will appear in 2014 Ubuntu on the inside. Although these phones are not yet operational, prototypes appeared this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Canonical announced its plan to enter the smartphone market in 2011 and since then has been very public about rallying interest and support for the goal. The company even attempted a massive but unsuccessful crowdfunding effort last year to develop the Ubuntu Edge phone as a prototype superphone that could operate as a mobile device but still run standard Linux desktop applications. However, real traction in the smartphone market requires an alliance with a hardware vendor, and Canonical's limited success with establishing hardware partnerships had caused many to believe a real-world Ubuntu phone was still far in the future.
The agreements will give Canonical valuable experience with the smartphone business and allow them to start building a resume that could lead to future phone deals.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Systemd Fixes Bug While Facing New Challenger in GNU Shepherd
The systemd developers have fixed a really nasty bug amid the release of the new GNU Shepherd init system.
-
AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta Released
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation has announced the availability of AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta ("Purple Lion") for all supported devices with significant changes.
-
Gnome 47.2 Now Available
Gnome 47.2 is now available for general use but don't expect much in the way of newness, as this is all about improvements and bug fixes.
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.