Verizon connects with Ubuntu for phones carrier group

Canonical has announced that Verizon Wireless has joined the Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group (CAG). Samir Vaidya, a director at Verizon's Device Technology Team said the company was joining to "participate in technology discussions around this new platform, which has the ability to bring new and exciting features to developers and ultimately, customers."

Like other CAG members, Verizon made no commitment to launch an Ubuntu for phones device. Verizon is the latest member of CAG; China Unicom and smartfren recently joined the other seven carriers who joined when the group was founded in mid-June. The CAG is designed to allow the carriers to shape the development of Ubuntu for phones as it comes to market so it is more suited to their business models.

Meanwhile, in a change to Canonical's CAG page, the company has clarified that the launch of Ubuntu phone will not occur with all partners at the same time. The page now reads "The first two launch partners will be selected from within the group, with the next wave following six months later; non-members will face a substantial wait to gain access to the platform," which means a staged launch will be taking place. This could be to allow Canonical more time to refine the platform by launching to smaller markets first.

(djwm)