Linux PC Maker Raises $1.6 Million to Build Phone

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY that a boutique Linux PC maker sets out to build a phone to compete with Android and iOS devices. It’s even more rare to see such a project raise $750,000 in a week. But if you’re looking to face off with the top two most valued compani

Our world is ruled by cell phones. The numbers of mobile devices in the world swamp those of PCs. But with this many devices, one would hope to see more operating system choices.

One such choice is on the horizon: Purism’s mobile Pure OS. Purism is a boutique PC maker that focuses on building privacy-respecting Linux PCs. The Librem 15, for example, allows for replacement of Wi-Fi card, storage, and RAM with minimal effort. Purism’s Pure OS, like System76’s Pop! OS, is a custom Linux flavor based on Debian. (Pop! OS is based on Ubuntu.) Like Pop! OS, desktop Pure OS is little more than a custom collection of stock apps, a desktop theme, plus drivers, and optimizations.

The Librem 15 features hardware kill switches for radios, and audio and video input (the mic and webcam). Purism’s phone, the Librem 5, promises much of the same. While hardware kill switches are rare in the PC world, they’re practically unheard of on mobile devices. Come to think of it, I see a lot of people with tape over the webcams of their PCs and MacBooks; I have never seen someone tape over their phone’s front or rear cameras.

On the surface, Android looks like a champion of open source. The dominant OS is a tweaked and twisted Linux derivative, after all. But for those who turn to Linux for privacy as well as security and stability, Android falls short. Taking Pure OS into the mobile space, Purism is offering privacy to users as well as flexibility. Pure OS will be a full-fledged Linux OS, and won’t require the user to set up an account with Google or Apple. The Librem 5 will be capable of running any other Linux OS, as well.

Even with its privacy features, Pure OS has a tough battle ahead. The Ubuntu Phone never came to fruition for business reasons. (Canonical found it could make more money focusing on enterprise solutions.) Firefox OS didn’t have enough airspeed to generate lift, let alone take-off. Even Microsoft failed to compete in the mobile space against Google and Apple.

Even developing bug-free Android flavors is tough. OnePlus had issues with the OnePlus 5 that prevented users from making emergency (9-1-1) calls.

If there’s one thing that Purism has to lean on, it’s the Linux community. At the time of writing, Purism had raised $1.6 million in crowdfunding for the Librem 5 project, exceeding the $1.5 million goal that would “guarantee” the project’s completion. What’s probably more impressive is that A concept for the Librem 5, as seen in Purism’s crowdfunding video.

Purism raised half of the goal— $750,000—in just one week.

Purism has enlisted the help of the KDE and GNOME projects. Part of Purism’s strategy is to lean heavily on upstream development, and to focus on getting that software to run on the hardware. That’s a wise choice, especially as it won’t be incumbent on Purism to create a new convergent desktop, like Canonical attempted with Unity. It also won’t be up to Purism to fix Wayland’s shortcomings by itself.

In the world of mobile, Android is king. Google’s (mostly) open-source operating system has enjoyed wide global adoption, due to the relative openness of the platform and Google offering up the OS to hardware makers.

Do I like the idea of a privacy-minded phone that has a fully opensource OS? Of course I do. But given that the mobile battlefield is littered with the corpses of promising contenders, I’ll have to keep a bit of skepticism for now.

Pure OS will be a full-fledged Linux OS, and won’t require the user to set up an account with Google or Apple.