Ubuntu Edge project received $ 80 thousand from Bloomberg, but this is not enough

On June 22, Canonical announced a fundraising campaign for its next-generation smartphone, Ubuntu Edge, with an ambitious goal of raising $ 32 million per month through crowdfunding. For the first day, the project received almost three and a half million dollars, but then the flow of investments decreased significantly and so far only a little more than $ 8 million has been raised.

Today, the project has its first major corporate sponsor: Bloomberg LP invested $ 80,000 in exchange for 100 Ubuntu Edge devices, corporate seminars and technical support, TechCrunch writes . A decent amount, but it is unlikely to help raise the necessary 32 million by August 21.

As describedThe Verge, after collecting $ 3.45 million in the first 24 hours, the collection rate has fallen dramatically. Over the first week, $ 7.07 million was raised, but 48% of them are the first day. In the second week, Edge received only a million. A total of $ 8.29 million was raised prior to the Bloomberg donation. Over the past day, they managed to raise 80 thousand dollars, that is, less than a hundred people wanted to buy Edge in a day.

In general, for crowdfunding, the amount received is in any case very impressive, but the problem is that if the target 32 ​​million is not collected by August 21, then Ubuntu Edge will not come true - there is no compromise. Canonical, of course, will continue to develop Ubuntu for smartphones and tablets, but the scenario of a complete merger 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 too far from the right amount at the moment. Ubuntu Edge can set an absolute record in the history of crowdfunding in the money raised, but still not achieve the goal.