Bloomberg backs Ubuntu Edge with $80,000 pledge

Canonical may be dreaming by asking for a lofty $32 million in crowd funding to make their dream smartphone, the Ubuntu Edge – which would dual-boot both Android and Ubuntu Phone OS – a reality, but that dream may have just become just a little more concrete. Bloomberg, one of the world’s most trusted sources for business news, has just pledged a whopping $80,000 to the project in exchange for 100 Ubuntu Edge smartphones upon the project’s completion. Let that sink in for a minute – $80,000 towards a smartphone that exists in reality as no more than image renderings.

Canonical claims that their Ubuntu Edge smartphone will be completed and delivering to backers by May of 2014, however all of that is riding on the assumption that the project can garner another $23 million in donations within the next 14 days – a seemingly unlikely feat. Still, sizable pledges and business agreements such as this could potential bring the Ubuntu Edge into reality even if the donations don’t quid match up, but we’ll have to wait and see on that note.

The Ubuntu Edge would be a super-powered smartphone with a 4.5″ display, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and an Intel processor inside if the project manages to reach completion. If not, well, let’s hope that the agreement lands Bloomberg (and the rest of the backers) their money back. Canonical has just today lowered the asking price of pledges on the Ubuntu Edge in an attempt to reach the lofty goal before the end of the month.