The folks at Canonical are working hard to bring Ubuntu to smartphones. They have already released a beta build of the firmware for supported Android devices, while the company is actively working to bring OEMs on board who will partner up to release Ubuntu OS powered smartphones. Canonical tried getting in on the manufacturing game itself with the crowdfunded Ubuntu Edge smartphone, however it wasn’t able to reach its $32 million goal. The company’s founder recently confirmed that a high-end Ubuntu phone will be released in 2014 from a popular manufacturer and Canonical community manager Jono Bacon has dropped a hint that goes further than just one high-end device.
Bacon says that he is confident that a number of Ubuntu phones are going to be released in the market this year, while he says that he can’t exactly reveal the details, Bacon boasts that “awesome things are happening.” He said that different OEMs and different carriers are showing interest, and that some Ubuntu phones will be exclusive to certain markets and carriers. Some of these devices will also be available for sale online so customers who don’t want to get tied down to a service contract will be taken care of. Canonical is pretty tightlipped about the OEMs it is going to work with and the specifications the smartphones will tout. It is yet to provide a concrete release timeframe in which the first Ubuntu powered phone will hit the market.