Google's Modular Phones to Go On Sale Next Year
May 20 2016 - 5:59PM
Dow Jones News
By Jack Nicas
Alphabet Inc.'s Google said it plans to start selling phones
with modular, replaceable parts next year, two years later than
initially planned.
The project, dubbed Ara, is an aggressive effort by Google to
upend the mobile industry by making smartphones' hardware almost as
customizable as their apps. The company on Friday showed how
different parts could be snapped onto the back of a phone,
including high-powered camera lenses, speakers, a glucometer for
diabetes patients or a holder for breath mints.
Ara has had a rocky history. The project began in 2013 under
phone maker Motorola, then owned by Google. It later moved into
Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group, a lab that aims to
bring futuristic technologies to market in two years.
In January 2015, the advanced-technology group said it would
launch the modular phone in Puerto Rico later that year. Seven
months later, the team scrapped those plans and extended the
project's two-year timeline. People familiar with the project said
at the time that the Ara team was struggling to get the phone from
a prototype to large-scale production.
A Google spokeswoman said Friday that after listening to
developers and consumers, the Ara team made changes to the phone,
including installing more technology in the device's base to clear
room for more modules.
On Friday at Google's annual programmers' conference, Google
executives said they had moved Ara into its own business unit and
plan to release the modular phones to developers later this year,
with a consumer launch in 2017.
"Ara is our vision for the future of phones," said Dan Kaufman,
who took over the advanced-technology group last month after former
Pentagon research chief Regina Dugan left for Facebook Inc.
The Ara device will run on Google's Android mobile-operating
system. Google could make the base phone itself or work with a
hardware partner, as it does with its Nexus smartphones, Google
hardware chief Rick Osterloh said in an interview.
The Google spokeswoman said Friday that it was too early to
estimate a price for the phone. Google said last year that the
phone base would cost $50 at the outset.
Google will likely make some phone modules, Mr. Osterloh said,
but wants outsiders to develop new components. Google said Friday
it was working with several companies on modules, including
electronics makers Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. and
Panasonic Corp.
Sony said its Sony Pictures Home Entertainment unit would be
developing content for the phone, not hardware. Samsung and
Panasonic didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
In an onstage demonstration, a Google engineer attached a camera
to a phone and then took a photo of the audience. The event's
biggest applause came when he said "OK, Google, eject the camera,"
and the module popped out.
Google also gave updates on two other advanced-technology-group
projects: sensor-embedded clothing and a tiny radar sensor that
enables users to control devices via gestures.
Google and Levi Strauss & Co. unveiled a denim jacket with
touch sensors in its sleeve, set to be released next year. The
companies said the jacket is designed for bicyclists to control a
smartphone while riding. A Levi executive changed a song with a
swipe on his cuff, but the functions appeared limited.
Google also showed off a concept LG Electronics Inc. watch with
a radar sensor inside, enabling an engineer on stage to scroll
through options on the watch with a twist of his fingers a few
inches from the device. The advantage of the gesture control over
using the watch's dial was unclear.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2016 18:44 ET (22:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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