Why canonical not having there own hardware will could hurt or help Ubuntu Touch

iPhone, Nexus, Nokia, Jolla
Ios created by apple who make the iPhone
Android created by Google who make the Nexus (with other companies)

Windows Phone 8, Created by Microsoft, exclusive deals with Nokia and now Nokia is owned by Microsoft!

Sailfish, created by Jolla for the Jolla phone!

As you can see all of those companies have an OS and there own hardware to put there OS this is great for them, but canonical no longer have there own and this will be bad for them in some ways, in others it will be good!

Getting it out there

Negative: Lets say that the edge was a success and rather then it being exclusive to backers, they would put it out to the market and support it for years, this would mean that even if the Ubuntu Edge got low sales due to being a new experience and people not being ready for the change, or the OS not up to snuff for the people, canonical would keep supporting it because they have more in this, they need it to succeed even if it takes a few years, yet if samsung are there only hardware provider, they could put out a phone, see that it's not bringing profit so they might decide to drop it for android and tizen!

Positive: Venders if they really want they can make it last much longer on the market without getting profitable and lets not forget that big brands are more recognised and better trusted, so this could drive many more sales, and thus they are less likely to drop the Ubuntu Touch OS

User experience

If you look at android you'll probably understand what I'm talking about, I use android daily, I use xperia, and I can use that perfectly, so I pick up my mum's samsung phone, I have no idea to use this, they are so different, I hate samsungs version of android!

What this means for Ubuntu Touch?
Negative: Well with no base phone, phone venders can bend the OS in which ever way they like, the Operating System could be the most broken thing ever compared to the base os or could just be unusable for people who could use ubunu touch base, but since you can't get the base OS theres no way you could know that and you'd just dismiss ubuntu touch as a bad OS, if I only knew samsung's launcher in android, I would never have moved to android because I personally find there version of the android OS unusable for me!

Positive: Developers could create a better version of the OS, they could have the top bar see threw, make the pages more customisable, make the contact page look more desirable, have a better music player, include a better notification thing, perhaps more user friendly possibly make it more compatible with android!

Theres so much that developers could do to screw the experience up, or make it much better for the end user, and remember the company wants to sell phones, so they won't screw it up on purpose!

3rd party's aren't competing with canonical

Companies are fighting against Google, with the Nexus and companies feel they are fighting against Microsoft with windows, and companies can't fight with Google and Microsoft, theres no way that Sony or samsung could put 5.0 on there latest phone, before or around the same time as google can put 5.0 on there's!

What does this mean for Ubuntu Touch?
well if Ubuntu touch gets traction companies are more likely to pick up the OS, the companies will have a better relationship and will get along better, they can work closer with canonical and make the operating system better!

Conclusion
Having your own phone means you can set a base and can wait longer to pick up market share, but without that base alot can go wrong!
It's very much possible for ubuntu touch to be great and get market share without having a base, its possible for it to completely go wrong, canonical should be wary of this!
As long as canonical works closely and keeps the hardware vendors happy, then these issues should sort themselves out, but if canonical just lets them do what ever they want, and without a base this could go awfully!

I trust that canonical wouldn't let there baby go completely wrong, and companies wont screw up ubuntu touch on purpose, they want to sell phones as well, so its possible that vendors will create a better version of Ubuntu Touch then canonical them selves!
Personally I find Sony's version of android better then the base android, so who will make the perfect version of Ubuntu Touch, because if canonical can get the right vendor then Ubuntu Touch will be much better, and will get much more market share!