From CNET: If you fancy trying out the latest Ubuntu phone, you'll have to wait until your number comes up. In a rather novel sales tactic, the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition will be available tomorrow in an unusual origami-based lottery.
On sale this Thursday 25 June for €299 (this converts to about £210, $335 or AU$430), the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition is the third Ubuntu phone to be available to phone fans. Like the BQ Aquaris E4.5 and BQ Aquaris E5, the new device puts Ubuntu software into a phone previously available with Android on board.
Ubuntu is an operating system best known as an alternative to Windows for those who like to tinker with their PCs. Canonical, the British company behind the software, has adapted it for smart phones in an attempt to provide an alternative to Android. As a mobile proposition, Ubuntu is still at the embryonic stages -- appearing in handsets made by lesser-known manufacturers BQ and Meizu and only available in Europe for now, Ubuntu faces an uphill struggle against the deeply entrenched Android used by big names like Samsung, HTC and Motorola.
That's where Ubuntu's attention-grabbing sales tactics come in.
The BQ E5 is available to buy normally, but the earlier E4.5 was offered in a series of "flash sales" that saw limited numbers of phones made available at specific times. Now, the MX4 Ubuntu Edition will be available by visiting the Meizu website and clicking on an origami-themed informative collage. You may then be offered a "randomly-generated" invitation to buy the phone -- or maybe not.
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