Ubuntu smartphones to cost between $200 and $400

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical which
develops Ubuntu, has said that the smartphones
running Ubuntu mobile operating systems "will
come out in the mid-higher edge, so $200 to
$400."
"We are going with the higher end because we
want people who are looking for a very sharp,
beautiful experience and because our ambition is
to be selling the future PC, the future personal
computing engine." Shuttleworth said while
speaking at Cebit, which is the world's largest
and most international computer expo.
Canonical expects to have its highest-end Ubuntu
phone to become full PCs when docked with a
monitor, mouse and keyboard. The company has
already tied up with phone manufacturers like
Meizu and BQ earlier this year to produce the
first Ubuntu smartphones. Recently, Canonical
failed to raise $32m earlier in an effort to develop
the Ubuntu Edge which would have been a
premium smartphone with prices ranging from
$600 to $830.
Shuttleworth has said that the firm was not
targeting iPhone users, who he said have an
"emotional connection" to the Apple ecosystem
and was therefore only competing against
Android which he believes "wasn't designed or
built to be a user's personal computer."
The firm is yet to reveal the specs of the
upcoming phones that will be developed by Meizu
and BQ. A Canonical spokesperson has confirmed
to Ars Technica that the prices quoted by
Shuttleworth for the upcoming smartphones are
the off-contract, unsubsidized guide prices.