No updates past June, no app store in 2018. https://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2017/04/25/canonical-confirms-ubuntu-phone-death/1
And why can't it be carried by enthusiasts? Since it's linux based and so open source right? And if there are few that use it it doesn't take much bandwidth either. Even the store feature could just be run on the same system as their desktop setup as a small addon, if nobody uses it it's a few bytes of storage, who cares. Especially now that the whisper is that Apple and Alphabet both are looking again at the 'phone that is also desktop' concept it might get suddenly popular if the concept catches on through those big players.
Same reason you can't make everyone's Android phones look to your server for updates, even though that's open source and Linux-based too: can you imagine what a security nightmare that is? Sure, someone can fork Ubuntu Touch and release Notbuntu Touch with their own app store and blackjack and hookers, but there's no way to roll that out to all current Ubuntu Touch users automatically without Canonical's cooperation - and Canonical ain't going to do that, 'cos then they'd be arguably responsible when Notbuntu explodes peoples phones.
It's selling point was the ability to hook it up to a monitor mouse and keyboard and use it as a linux PC, a concept MS then borrowed for Continuum and now Samsung are having a go with the S8 and DeX.
And on top of that, it would require some enthusiasts who actually give a damn about running Ubuntu on their phones. You might get an outpouring of love for Symbian even now, but not a peep for Ubuntu.
