In practice, Google and Apple had something to offer over Blackberry and Symbian. It was never obvious to me what Ubuntu Phone offered -- Android is already bui

In practice, Google and Apple had something to offer over Blackberry and Symbian. It was never obvious to me what Ubuntu Phone offered -- Android is already built on Linux and translating existing linux apps built on X (for example) directly to phones was never going to create a usable experience. Ubuntu phoned seemed only to offer a vastly inferior experience in return for more openness, and that is a hard sell.