Linux development took way too much time to enter the market, and therefore will face tremendous difficulties, but it is indeed a step in the right direction. Having GNU/Linux phones can open many possibilities in software development, and most definitely, free software. You're right about the ecosystem issue, though. I have no idea how they will pull it off, but PinePhone has been able to do wonders with their resources lately.
Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'd say it's not time to market so much as the mentality of Linux. It's aimed mostly at professionals, developers, and power users, and therefore not as much effort goes into polishing the UI and making it easy and intuitive to use as Android, iOS, or even Windows. Instead, Linux UIs seem to focus on control, customization, and being able to run on low power hardware.
Granted, Linux being no nonsense is a big reason I love it, but to the average consumer, it's a flaw.
This could be merely a question of time, any new "paradigm" could make its way into the average consumer if it shows to be affordable and usable. Linux was actually very used in peripheral countries for a while to prevent the abusive fees Microsoft exploit through intellectual property when an institution uses a pirated Windows copy. The government of my country used GNU/Linux for a long time, and we even had a GNU/Linux operating system of our own, Kurumin Linux.
The only reason Windows became so prevalent in peripheral countries after a while is because now manufacturers of computer machines have a clo$e relation$hip with Microsoft's very fat offers and the sellers become obliged to sell the machines with Windows installed if they do not wish to get heavily fined for it.
Still, Linux accesibility has nothing to do with its design or its 'mentality', in my opinion, but it's admittedly rarely used nowadays.