Crowdfunding an Ubuntu smartphone (right now)

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org> writes:
>
> Joshua Judson Rosen <rozzin at geekspace.com> writes:
> > Just in case not everybody saw this on Slashdot already:
> >
> >     http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge
> >
> >     "The Ubuntu Edge is the next generation of personal computing:
> >      smartphone and desktop PC in one state-of-the-art device."
>
> I was already skeptical based on Shuttleworth being involved and it
> costing $800, but that video easily pushed me over the edge. 
>
> He literally comes out and says we are a testbed for his production
> facility...but still wants us to pay almost a grand a head for the
> privilege. Don't Formula One drivers get paid? Which one of us is the
> millionaire, here?

Perhaps you'd appreciate the GTA04 project more? <http://gta04.org>

The mainboards are available for only €600....

Pioneering can be pretty hard-going :\

I actually wonder how much of the production cost for the edge
is being subsidised by Canonical, if anything; it's easy to scoff
at unit purchase prices of `almost a grand' as outlandishly high
for a high-end mobile computer, until you start looking at how much
it actually costs just buy all of the _parts_. A full $1k probably
wouldn't be an unusually high a production-cost estimate for a batch
as small as 40k units--especially when we we're talking about
something that can actually support all of those cell networks
(if I remember correctly the original OpenMoko story: just the
 crappy GPRS/GSM modem component cost as much as *everything else
 combined*?).

If Canonical/Shuttleworth are giving a subsidy of only $100 per unit,
that's still *4 million dollars*.

-- 
"'tis an ill wind that blows no minds."