Canonical comes up $19m short for 'crowd funded' Ubuntu smartphone

Canonical has come up short in its bid to "crowd fund" backing of $32m for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone concept.

The company had planned to raise $32m - three times the current record for an amount raised on the Indiegogo crowdfunding website - in order to put the smartphone into production. Pledgers of $695 or more would have been among the first to receive the new phone.

However, the company secured pledges of less than half the amount targeted, reaching $12,809,906 in the month that it had set on Indiegogo to raise the money, despite a flurry of last-minute pledges. While that represents a record for an amount pledged on the Indiegogo website, it leaves the future of the device somewhat cloudy.

The phones would have been delivered in May 2014.

The smartphone itself was designed to be used either on the move as a standard smartphone, or docked and connected to a monitor for use as a standard desktop PC.

If produced, the device will offer 4GB of memory and internal flash storage of 128GB, as well as a 4.5-inch screen with a resolution of 720 by 1,280 pixels. Uniquely, it will be protected by sapphire glass, which ought to be completely scratch-proof.

It is now unclear whether the device will still go into production. Although Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth has said that the Indiegogo project is a "do or die" effort, he has also indicated that if the campaign gathered momentum, the deadline might be extended.

The company had been talking to potential corporate backers throughout the month of the campaign to persuade them to put up a large chunk of cash - only Bloomerg, the news and media company, responded with an $80,000 pledge to purchase the "Enterprise 100 Bundle".

Furthermore, the widespread publicity that the fundraising effort has engendered may encourage the company to go it alone.