Two small manufacturers will release Ubuntu phones this year, Canonical says

Gigaom

Ubuntu handsets will be appearing this year after all, Canonical announced on Wednesday. There are two small manufacturers lined up to release Ubuntu phones during 2014, though neither is a household name: BQ and Meizu.

According to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth, bigger names are on the horizon for 2015, but the firm chose smaller launch partners “for whom we will be a significant part of their story in 2014.” He’s not kidding – Meizu only launches one piece of hardware at a time and BQ is best known (which isn’t to say well-known) as an e-reader maker.

A Canonical employee had previously said he would be surprised to see Ubuntu phones appear in 2014. “That was miscommunicated,” said Shuttleworth. “The chap in question was saying will see household names in 2015.”