Ubuntu smartphones set for launch this year

Canonical has announced that Ubuntu phones from Meizu and BQ will be available internationally before the year ends. Also, two “household names” will reportedly launch their own Ubuntu devices by 2015. Canonical told Engadget the company aims to have the top 50 apps running on Ubuntu before the end of the year as well. There are no details yet on the kinds of devices but there might be more information at Mobile World Congress.

Ubuntu for Phones makes major mobile push

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Canonical's Ubuntu OS is popular for being easy to install and use and for being quite malleable and capable of running efficiently on older PCs. Back in 2011, we featured a story about Ubuntu making inroads to mobile and late last year it was announced that multi-core smartphones could easily run the mobile version of the OS. Ubuntu just announced Ubuntu for Phones which will be showcased at CES in Las Vegas next week.

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Ubuntu may invade smartphones and tablets as soon as 2012

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Don't look now but it looks like the mobile market for smartphones and tablets is going to get a lot more crowded. Linux stalwarts Ubuntu by Canonical are looking to expand beyond the desktop and into the more popular and emerging smartphone and tablet markets in 2012.  What this means for consumers is possibly more choice of devices and likely lower cost of ownership given Ubuntu's open source nature.

Ubuntu has remained one of the more popular Linux distributions that is highly regarded for its ease of use, relatively low system requirements as well as solid community backing and support. Like most of Linux, however, it has fought a long and uphill battle for the desktop space.

A presence in mobile makes sense but only if the Ubuntu OS can be pared down to be actually useful on touch-enabled mobile devices and can at least approximate competing mobile operating systems, some of which have a four-year head start, an established developer community and a store and app ecosystem. Word on the street is that Ubuntu's owner Canonical has been in talks with a number of device manufacturers who may be interested in making phones or tablets running the mobile Ubuntu OS.