EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, said developers are now targeting the company’s Ubuntu platform for “game changing” areas such as Network Function Virtualisation and Internet of Things.

Last month, the company significantly boosted its convergence strategy, unveiling the first Ubuntu-powered tablet, from European vendor BQ, following earlier launches in the smartphone space.

Speaking to Mobile World Live, Shuttleworth said it was a “nice step” to include a tablet as part of its convergence story, as he opened up on how the demand for Ubuntu was beginning to grow.

“For a certain audience, Ubuntu is the natural platform,” he said. “If I look at developers targeting the cloud, 70 per cent are using Ubuntu because 70 per cent of the cloud is run on the software, so it makes us look at how to offer a highly secure platform that can go on all the devices developers care about, and allow them to be productive.”

Shuttleworth said the company is “being pulled into areas where the game is being changed”, and it now has a strong presence, in particular, with developers which are “blazing a trail in IoT”.

“For us, IoT is networking equipment, home gateways, switches, software defined radio and it’s all designed to accelerate the telcos’ ability to deliver services from static to dynamic, all of them enabling start up disruptors and large organisation to deliver a new set of experiences at the speed of software.”

In the interview, Shuttleworth also talked about his passion for helping the start-up community. Click here to watch.