Ubuntu, the open-source Linux distro, is coming to Android phones in October.
"Smartphones running the open source Ubuntu operating system will be available to customers beginning in October 2013, according to Mark Shuttleworth, founder and CEO of Canonical Ltd.," writes the Wall Street Journal.
App developers get their hands on the OS later this month.
For now, that means a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running the software. "Though we've seen the nascent mobile OS running on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus both in the initial announcement video as well as at CES, Shuttleworth declined to offer names of any confirmed or potential hardware manufacturers Canonical may be working with," said TechCrunch.
October is a long way off, so there's plenty of time for the schedule to get thrown off track. The developers' release was supposed to be out last month, so it looks like Canonical is still working kinks out of the pipeline.
And there's no guarantee that an on-time October launch even includes the U.S., but be patient; it will get here eventually. "Shuttleworth said the new phone operating system will be available in two large geographic markets in October, and while he didn't commit to North America being one of those, he said North America is 'absolutely a key market for Ubuntu,'" said the Journal.
That gives Canonical nearly a year to drum up interest at leger firms and IT departments. Most people still want their iPhones and Android phones, so it's hard to imagine many large organizations switching over. That leaves the consumer market, and a tedious phone-by-phone conversion plan that's seen relatively poor results on personal computers.