[niemeyer]

A lot of people would disagree that this is as bad as you paint it:

"On August 14, with 8 days until the deadline, the campaign passed the $10 million milestone.[8] The campaign passed the record for the most funded crowdfunding campaign held previously by the Pebble smartwatch on August 15."

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edge

[Crito]

If you are trying to launch a new line of smartphones, I would say that is a pretty shit turnout. They're not trying to put out wristwatches.

Unless they were half-assing it for Ubuntu Edge, or deliberately set themselves up for failure, then at the very least they have demonstrated themselves incapable of estimating demand and rallying required support. What have they done since then to correct these failings?

[pekk]

They said openly at the time that they wanted information on how many people wanted the very expensive enthusiast's phone. Putting money down on it would have been a risky bet considering how little we have seen of Ubuntu Phone.

I don't see how this is a problem for their platform.

I don't know why you are so upset that you are demanding that they "correct these failings" - what do you have staked on this? Are you upset about a competitor to some other favored product?

[Crito]

I'm not upset in the slightest. I am merely expressing my belief that they will not succeed. Ubuntu on smartphones does not make me angry any more than, say, Mars One. It would be neat if they succeed, but I do not believe they will.

I am not demanding that they correct whatever is wrong with their organization and product that resulted in the failure of Ubuntu Edge, I am asking if they have corrected the problems that resulted in the failure of Ubuntu Edge (in other words, I am asking if there is a reason that I should reevaluate whether or not I believe they will fail. If they have not made changes after Ubuntu Edge, then I don't see any reason to think that they won't fail again.)

I guess you are saying that the Ubuntu Edge crowdfunding effort was not an earnest attempt to produce a phone but was rather a sort of survey meant to gauge interest and support. If that is the case, then I think the results of the survey are quite clear, and support my assessment of their chances.