14 DAY TRIAL // Well, after today’s Ubuntu phone flash sale roller coaster, we still don’t know how many devices were sold and how many people managed to get at least one BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition smartphone. All we know is that BQ stated on their Google+ page that they have received approximately 12,000 orders per minute, and that this is the main reason behind the premature failure of their online store.
“We experienced a huge demand this morning, receiving over 12,000 orders per minute and unfortunately our servers went down as a result. We only had a limited number of units for today´s flash sale. More will be made available as further flash sales are held throughout the month. Please bear in mind that all orders placed for Ubuntu smartphones will not be delivered in any case until March.” said BQ on Google+.
The Ubuntu phone will arrive on the US market in the next six months
If you’ve watched our Ubuntu phone news today, you would know then that the initial flash sale was split in two due to some server issues. The first one started at 9am CET (Central European Time) and ended prematurely three hours later, around 12pm. Because a few devices were still available for people to buy, BQ decided to do a second flash sale of Ubuntu phones starting 3pm CET, which lasted exactly 10 minutes.
While trying to keep people hopeful, BQ promises more flash sales of Ubuntu phone this month, assuring them that all purchases will be delivered in March. Currently, the device is being sold only to EU (European Union) citizens, but Canonical plans to bring Ubuntu phones to the US market in the next six months, according to an interview with Cristian Parrino, vice president, Mobile and Online Services at Canonical.