What are the opportunities for loading tablets and PCs into the mobile phone Ubuntu?

According to the Canonical idea, through the docking station, your smartphone can be transformed into a tablet computer and a desktop PC. In different use environments, the App will automatically adapt, different user interfaces are displayed as needed. At this time, the smartphone is not only a mobile phone, but also a tablet and PC that can be carried with you, and does not need to synchronize data between different devices. MarkShuttleworth, founder of Canonical, which runs Ubuntu, is a frequent talker in the tech field. This time, C

According to the Canonical idea, through the docking station, your smartphone can be transformed into a tablet computer and a desktop PC. In different use environments, the App will automatically adapt, different user interfaces are displayed as needed. At this time, the smartphone is not only a mobile phone, but also a tablet and PC that can be carried with you, and does not need to synchronize data between different devices.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, which runs Ubuntu, is a frequent talker in the tech field. This time, at the CeBIT computer exhibition in Germany, he certainly wants to make some comments on Ubuntu Touch. Shuttleworth talked about the possible price range and target audience of Ubuntu Touch, but we have to wonder if his strategy is appropriate.

Shuttleworth and his company never conceal their high-end positioning. His team has been making it clear that he wants Ubuntu Touch to run on high-end devices, even though it is also available on low-end devices.

We have all witnessed the great failure of Ubuntu Edge. This system was supposed to be a dream for smartphone enthusiasts, but unfortunately it was not able to get enough financing to turn it into reality. (It is worth noting that the financing result also shows the market's attitude towards this device .)

On CeBIT, Shuttleworth also said that Canonical would not dig iPhone users. They "have emotional attachment to the Apple ecosystem", but target Android users.

Shuttleworth said that systems outside of apple do not have Apple's emotional attachment, but this field also requires an easy-to-use device, but Android does not.

He also said that Ubuntu Touch's target is a medium-and high-end market of $. The specific reason is:

"We are positioned at a higher level because we want to cater to users who are eager for exquisite and beautiful experiences, and because our goal is to sell future PCs and personal computing devices in the future ."

This is very interesting because it points out Ubuntu's marketing strategy, but this strategy is somewhat self-contradictory. Consider the following:

1. The high-end smartphone market is becoming increasingly saturated, meaning that the market growth potential lies in the low-end.

2. the PC market is shrinking.

In this case, we have seen in many fields and vendors that targeting high-end products is not really effective for smartphones. Before deciding to re-enter the middle-and low-end markets this year, HTC abandoned the market strategy and almost broke itself. Windows Phone Mobile Phones showed strong growth in the past year, but almost all of them came from low-end markets. Even Samsung relies heavily on a large number of low-end mobile phones released around the world to ensure its revenue in the mobile phone field. In the smartphone market, Apple was successful only when it did not have a really low-end product (except for the old devices that were released 3.5 years ago in emerging markets because their prices are not low-end ).

However, this is the difficulty of Ubuntu. Canonical does not seem intended for the smartphone market. As Shuttleworth said, Canonical wants to "sell future PCs ". This corresponds to the second point above, that is, targeting the PC market is not better than targeting the high-end smartphone market, and the results may even be worse. Sales in the entire PC market are declining (Apple is also excluded ). It is generally believed that mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have eroded the PC market share, but this does not mean that mobile devices will replace traditional PCs. Canonical seems to want to use Ubuntu for this purpose.

Opportunities at aggregation?

Although many users find that tablets can meet the needs of most of their computers (such as checking emails, surfing the Internet, watching news and playing games ), however, there are still people who need traditional PC processing work (image/video editing and playing Large Games ).

The number of users in the first group is much larger than that in the latter group, but the latter has a higher say than that in the former group (from online forums and comments ). The question now is whether Ubuntu can meet the needs of these two groups, because although they are a minority of those more proficient in technology, they are more influential, and they often provide comments to general users, or directly help these users make decisions.

Software

Software is important for several reasons. First of all, Ubuntu is a Linux system, which is not as user-friendly as Windows, Mac, or iOS. Android is the most successful Linux-based system so far, but Android still does not appear on traditional PCs (although this may be under development ). Ubuntu may not be ready for large-scale use until the fear of changing the system is cleared. One of the most influential factors is the software. we acquire apps and games not just the system, but the available ones.

Unfortunately, this has always been a weakness of the Linux release. Although the Linux system has a large number of high-quality applications, there are no products created by familiar brands. No Microsoft Office, no Photoshop, or iTunes. However, you can find alternatives such as OpenOffice, GIMP, Rythmbox, and Banshee. This is not a big thing, but it is usually a big thing. These problems have also been encountered by Android in the early days, while Windows Phone phones are encountering such problems. The existing apps have good quality, but they are not named.

Another problem is gaming, which has always been regarded as the weakest link on the Linux platform. However, Canonical has been making great efforts to solve this problem, such as cooperating with Valve to introduce the Steam game platform to the Debian release of Linux such as Ubuntu. So far, more than 2000 Steam games have been imported into Linux, and the number is still growing. In addition, Valve's Steam Box host is also based on Linux, so there is still a well-known enterprise in PC games that is promoting the development of this platform.

However, these games are designed for general computers and require a control handle or a mouse or keyboard, without moving the touch screen. Theoretically, once the game is transplanted, it is relatively easy to optimize the touch screen, but this does not mean that we will soon be able to see Angry Birds, QuizUp, And the legend of candy crushing on Ubuntu. It is very likely that Ubuntu is in the same cycle as many other platforms, that is, it cannot attract users because there are not enough games and applications, and there are not enough users to attract apps and game developers.

Shuttleworth reiterated on CeBIT that it will bring the best application to Ubuntu, but such a commitment is empty before it is actually implemented.

Hardware

Second, the deep-rooted influence of PC is weakening. The Metro UI of Windows 8 and Windows Phone has severe differences, which means that Microsoft's dream of system aggregation can only be put on hold. Desktop computer users do not like the Metro interface, and tablet users are plagued by the lack of Windows 8 tablet applications. Despite the good growth of Windows Phone, there is also a good App ecosystem, however, they are still far apart from other similar products. With the release of Windows Phone 8.1, such barriers will be eliminated in the next month. Then, WP applications will adapt to tablets, and some App problems that plague Windows tablet systems will be mitigated.

Microsoft is urging manufacturers to build a variety of hybrid tablets, but none of them are particularly popular among users. In addition to the user interface, the problem lies in ease of use. A device with a rotating hinge (like Lenovo Yoga) is a good ultra-portable notebook, but it is too heavy and too big as a tablet. A screen or keyboard can be separated, sometimes it is not as good as a normal notebook, because they often need a stable desktop to be placed when used as a notebook. Windows Phone. This is just a mobile Phone.

Ubuntu wants to be different in some key aspects. First, the user interface varies according to the use environment. That is to say, the mobile phone is the user interface of the mobile phone, the tablet is the user interface of the tablet, and the desktop is the user's familiar interface similar to the Mac OS. For example, Windows desktop Edition does not have the kind of startup screen and application on the Metro interface. The Metro interface only exists on mobile phones and tablets. When using the same App on a desktop computer, it presents a traditional Windows interface. When a tablet is connected to a keyboard, only the traditional desktop interface is displayed. This seems to be a good solution to Windows complaints, right? This is what Ubuntu wants to implement.

Second, compared to data consistency between different devices through cloud synchronization, everything is on a device, not just a mobile phone, but everything. We have seen the device that can be turned into a tablet-Asus PadFone, but we have never seen a mobile phone that can be turned into a desktop computer. A mobile phone cannot directly connect to the keyboard like a tablet. It may need a docking station, but the idea of turning a mobile phone directly into a fully functional desktop computer is still very attractive. In particular, this does not require any synchronization, because there is only one device and the App is generic. If you open a browser, game, or a reading software on your Ubuntu phone and place it on a docking station, these applications will automatically expand in the desktop mode.

New Path

Of course, it is unknown whether users prefer the docking station compared with the detachable device. In other words, PadFone does not get enough attention, indicating that users are acceptable to possess mobile phones and tablets separately. There is not much market for hybrid Windows devices. We still need to wait and see what Ubuntu can do. It is hard to say what the market will do, because what Canonical does is a brand new thing.

What's interesting about Shuttleworth's words is that regarding Ubuntu device pricing, he said Canonical's goal is to "medium-and high-end" devices, priced at $. The problem is what it actually means. If this is the price for medium and high-end devices, it is no different from what we see in the smartphone market. If the cost of a terminal device is about $200 and that of a high-end device is about $400, this is completely another situation.

If Shuttleworth means the latter, it means you need to spend about $400 to buy a Ubuntu mobile phone, then you only need a docking station, a monitor, and a keyboard to turn it into a fully functional computer. If you don't have any of these devices, it costs $23 inch to buy a 150-inch monitor, $50 to buy a mouse and mouse set, and $100 for the docking station. This means that you can buy a high-end smartphone and desktop computer for $700. This is very cost-effective compared with the $600 high-end smartphone.

According to the Canonical idea, your PC suddenly becomes the same as that of a smartphone, because PC is your smartphone. Many people use a PC or notebook for more than five years. Therefore, accelerating this update will certainly improve the overall experience of PC users.

For more information about Ubuntu, see Ubuntu special page http://www.linuxidc.com/topicnews.aspx? Tid = 2