Mobile World Congress 2017 kicks off in late February, and Canonical is once again in attendance.
But although we are unlikely to see any shiny new Ubuntu phones and tablets Ubuntu Touch won’t be absent.
And that’s all thanks to the Ubuntu community.
Canonical at MWC 2017
Last MWC we saw the Bq Aquaris M10 demoed and got a closer look at the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition. This year’s offering will be little leaner on the mobile devices front (but do expect plenty on the embedded devices side of thing).
Still, Ubuntu Phone will be there for any of the 100,000 (estimated) attendees to sample thanks to Smoose, a company based in the Netherlands that provides “open source FOSS solutions for SME’s in the area of office automation”.
Canonical will share a booth with Smoose, a Dutch company
The company says it is “motivated by the belief that free transfer of knowledge and software is fundamental for free markets and freedom of people” and been invited to share a booth with Canonical during the event.
Canonical will (I expect) be focusing on their Internet of Things, Snappy and the desktop Ubuntu convergence stories throughout this year’s congress.
Smoose, however, say they will be at MWC to “emphasize …the story behind UBports”.
What’s Ubports Again?
UBports (or ‘Ubuports’, as my browser’s autocorrect prefers it) is a community-based effort to port Ubuntu Touch to Android-based smartphones. The project already maintains ports for the One Plus One and the Nexus 5.
But one of UBport’s targeted devices is getting serious attention — the Fairphone 2. This pricey (yet well regarded) phone is going to be spotlighted at MWC, with Smoose showing it off in all of its Snapdragon 801, modular component glory.
‘Canonical says it plans to focus all its Ubuntu Touch efforts on the Bq M10 platform family’
“The fact that Canonical is willing to take on the promotion of our project, and the initiative UBports in particular, proofs that they take UBports and our goal very seriously,” Ubports says in its latest newsletter.
“Yes, it’s true that click-apps will be replaced by snap-apps. And yes, we based our port on click-apps, but Canonical still wants us to share a booth at the MWC because they take the shout-out to keeping Ubuntu phones on track seriously,” they add.
The recent news that Canonical will refocus its —comparatively limited, mind— resources on bringing the Unity 8 desktop experience up to speed with Unity 7, and will continue its work to transition ALL THE THINGS to Snappy has left some feeling glum about the project’s future.
But it’s important that I stress — again — Ubuntu Phone is not strictly abandoned or forgotten amidst the rush to switch to Snaps. Canonical is, for technical reasons, readjusting its priorities, and plans to focus all its ‘touch efforts on the Bq M10 platform family’ for now.
So although we may not hear about a new mobile OEM going all-in on Ubuntu Phone anytime soon, the fact Canonical is keen to highlight the community’s work in keeping the project alive is, perhaps, rather telling.