Ubuntu maker Canonical intends to jump into the highly competitive smartphone market by making a bold announcement. They have stated their intention of developing a version of its popular Linux-based operating system that was specially designed to be the driving force behind smartphones, and have set the target of seeing the maiden Ubuntu-powered smartphone arrive in the mass markets by the time 2014 rolls around. However, in what some might deem to be a “teaser”, Canonical wants to partner with Android smartphone manufacturers to ship the first devices which feature “Ubuntu on Android,” which is a solution that enables one to dock one’s Android smartphone to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, transforming your smartphone into a pseudo-desktop computer.
Ubuntu for Android will be introduced for real this year as a working version, or at least that is what Canonical says. This does seem to be a stop-gap measure until Ubuntu Phone OS is good to go in 2014. Do you think that there is enough room for one more player in the mobile operating system space that is currently dominated by iOS and Android at the top of the heap, while Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 slug it out for third place?
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