>Am I missing the point entirely? Is this all about Ubuntu mobile itself with android & ubuntu desktop as extras?
It's a phone! It's a computer! It's both!
More seriously, imagine a phone that is always a phone unless you want to make it a computer. Plug it into a TV/Monitor/glass and you have a full computer desktop.
I travel quite a bit. I have in my bag at the moment a laptop, a phone and a tablet. With this, I need just the phone.
I also used to work in an office. When I went home, I had a computer at home. If I never wanted to do anything, read an email or what not, I needed to VPN in or sync something. Things ALWAYS got out of sync. Now, I can just plug into a monitor and have my work system at home.
Or, say, you are a corporation. You have 10,000+ people. Assuming you are a normal corporation of that size, many of those people have phones AND computers/laptops. It is highly likely that a very large number of those people could get by with one device: a phone that is also a computer. Cost savings for those corporations would be huge.
You still need the keyboard and monitor, don't you?. If you are traveling, it would probably be best if they snapped together into a nice, book-like shape. Like a laptop, but with the computer conveniently removed?
Regarding money-saving at a 10,000 PC corporation.. really? First, they would have to use Ubuntu, and they use Windows. Second, its not really that much money. Even if this is free in the sense that they need to have a phone anyway, they still need the monitor & stuff. If they were happy with an ubuntu appliance PC, I'm sure they could get the computer part of the computer in micro computer form for $200 or so every 3-5 years if the saving was worth it. Most importantly, phones break, get lost or stolen.
What about the ease of deploying apps? It's a full Ubuntu, so you don't need to really deploy, just write and use. And you can use any programming languages, any libraries.
I am thinking of (i) a hobbyist who for whatever purposes want to write some apps that he can use on his phone on-the-go, or (ii) a medium business that wants to provide some tailor-made apps for the employees.
How much easier is it to develop for a full Ubuntu, compared to developing for Android or iPhone? 1.1x? 1.5x? 3x?
It's a phone! It's a computer! It's both!
More seriously, imagine a phone that is always a phone unless you want to make it a computer. Plug it into a TV/Monitor/glass and you have a full computer desktop.
I travel quite a bit. I have in my bag at the moment a laptop, a phone and a tablet. With this, I need just the phone.
I also used to work in an office. When I went home, I had a computer at home. If I never wanted to do anything, read an email or what not, I needed to VPN in or sync something. Things ALWAYS got out of sync. Now, I can just plug into a monitor and have my work system at home.
Or, say, you are a corporation. You have 10,000+ people. Assuming you are a normal corporation of that size, many of those people have phones AND computers/laptops. It is highly likely that a very large number of those people could get by with one device: a phone that is also a computer. Cost savings for those corporations would be huge.