Ubuntu Edge

The Edge was designed as a hybrid device, which would function as a high-end smartphone (with both Ubuntu Touch and Android), or—when used with a monitor, keyboard and mouse—be able to operate as a conventional desktop PC running Ubuntu. The Ubuntu Edge was also designed to support dual boot, and was to run along with Android.

Fundraising campaign

Reaction to Canonical's announcement was mixed; while it raised over a million dollars in the first five hours, one commentator has noted the unclear market for the device, with a large number of smartphone operating systems already available, and no precedent showing demand for a "single device" combining the phone with the user's primary computer. The first devices were offered for $600 against a main cost of $825; following the initial launch, this was revised to offer $625, $675 and $725 tranches as earlier ones were filled. Further revisions to the pricing came on 8 August, making it a flat $695 per unit. The first major company to make a pledge was by Bloomberg LP, which pledged $80,000.

On 14 August, with 8 days until the deadline, the campaign passed the $10 million milestone. This milestone put the Ubuntu Edge as the second highest funded crowdfunding project at the time, behind Star Citizen, a space trading and combat simulation video game which had raised $15 million that year.

The campaign ended on 21 August with a final sum of $12,809,906, but was not able to meet its goal of $32 million to start the project.