The Ubuntu Edge project received $ 80,000 from Bloomberg, but that’s not enough

On June 22, Canonical announced the start of fundraising for a new-generation smartphone, Ubuntu Edge, setting an ambitious goal to raise $ 32 million a month using crowdfunding. During the first day, the project received almost three and a half million dollars, but then the flow of investments has significantly decreased and so far only slightly more than 8 million dollars have been collected.

Today, the project has the first major corporate sponsor: the company Bloomberg LP has invested 80 thousand dollars in exchange for 100 Ubuntu Edge devices, corporate seminars and technical support, writes TechCrunch. A decent amount, but it is unlikely to help collect the required 32 million by August 21.

As described by The Verge, after collecting 3.45 million dollars in the first 24 hours, the collection rate has fallen dramatically. For the first week, $ 7.07 million was raised, but 48% of them are the first day. For the second week, the Edge received only a million. In total, $ 8.29 million was raised before a donation from Bloomberg. Over the past day, we managed to collect 80 thousand dollars, that is, less than a hundred people wanted to buy Edge in one day.
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In general, the amount received for crowdfunding is in any case very impressive, but the problem is that if the planned 32 million are not collected by August 21, then Ubuntu Edge will not become a reality - there is no compromise solution. Canonical, of course, will continue to develop Ubuntu for smartphones and tablets, but the scenario of complete merging of hardware and software will not be implemented.

Many crowdfunding projects have reached their goal thanks to donations made at the last minute, but Canonical is currently too far from the required amount. Ubuntu Edge may set an absolute record in the history of crowdfunding for the money collected, but it never succeeds.