G oogle has shed fresh light on Project Ara, its
modular Android smartphone initiative, including
plans to pilot the project in Puerto Rico through
food truck-style stores.
Project Ara will offer a smartphone endoskeleton;
users will be able to add the functionality they
want piece by piece, rather than being confined by
the hardware configurations determined by
operators and providers.
Google debuted the project's first functional
prototype, known as Spiral 1, in 2013.
It showed off its progress on Spiral 2 prototypes
and previewed its plans for Spiral 3 -- and for
ultimately marketing the devices -- at its DevCon2
developers conference on Wednesday.
11 Prototype Modules
"The purpose of the market pilot is to research the
user relationship to Ara technology, paradox of
choice, pricing and economic models, and
marketing and branding," Google spokesperson
Iska Saric told TechNewsWorld.
Included among the latest updates in Project Ara's
Spiral 2 prototype are 3G modem functionality and
an analog RF bus, along with 11 different prototype
modules.
An earlier prototype's field-programmable gate
arrays also have been replaced with the first
implementation of a UniPro switch ASIC and two
types of UniPro bridge ASICs for better
performance and more space.
In addition, the device's electropermanent magnets
have been moved from the modules into the
endoskeleton frame. Device shells, or outer
exteriors, meanwhile, are now high-resolution, full-
color and fully customizable injection-molded
polycarbonate plastic decorated via dye-
sublimation printing.
Global Plans Forthcoming
Coming up for Spiral 3 are inductive, contactless
data connections between modules and
endoskeleton, plus the ability to have antennas in
the endoskeleton as well as in the modules, with
connections made by the RF bus.
Also on tap are increased battery volume, reduced
power consumption and improved battery
technology.
As for the Puerto Rican market pilot, it will take
place through a partnership with Ingram Micro for
third-party logistics, and with OpenMobile and
Claro as carrier partners.
Google will formulate its global launch plans
based on the results of the Puerto Rican pilot, it
said, with a goal of 20 to 30 modules across 10
categories as a starting point.
More than 50 developers currently are working on
developing modules for the project.
Much to Learn
Most notable about Google's latest Project Ara
news is the timing, said Ramon Llamas, research
manager for mobile phones at IDC .
"It's finally seeing the light of day," he told
TechNewsWorld. "A lot of things that start at
Google don't always make it this far."
The choice of Puerto Rico as a pilot location
makes a lot of sense, he said. "It's not the biggest
market in the world, but it's definitely a savvy
market as far as technology goes. It's a controlled
and soft launch, and a lot can be learned there."
The fact that Puerto Rico is under the Federal
Communications Commission's domain is also
important, noted independent mobility analyst
Michael Morgan .
Echoes of Frankenstein
Still, the learning curve for consumers accustomed
to today's smartphone market will be a steep one,
Morgan told TechNewsWorld.
"When you buy a mobile device today, everything's
in it," he said. "Apple is famous for this -- it's
vertically integrated, and because of that, for every
bit of silicon you put in there, you get that much
more. Everything is optimized."
Today, however, as the market matures, that
integration is beginning to come apart.
"Intel does one thing, the camera maker does
another, and you get a sort of a Frankenstein
device," Morgan said. "The differentiation dynamic
is changing."
The Bundle Imperative
In many ways, it's similar to what already has
occurred in the PC world, Morgan suggested.
For example, "you can buy the tower of your
choice, but you can upgrade the video card or
hard drive," he pointed out.
Over time, however, that scenario has devolved
into one where "only hobbyists swap stuff in and
out," Morgan observed. "You have to wonder if
that's a key thing Google will need to address
here. At the end of the day, it starts to coalesce
into bundles."
Google is "kind of re-innovating the whole
smartphone dynamics here," he said. "There are a
lot of tough questions, and an overload of
decisions that have to be made by the consumer."
Broader Possibilities
It's going to be a significant challenge "to explain
[Project Ara] to consumers so that their heads
don't spin. You have to educate consumers on
what they need, what they don't need, what works
and what doesn't," said IDC's Llamas. "In general,
consumers don't come along with engineering
degrees."
At the same time, the modularity concept is a
compelling one, he acknowledged.
"Why stop at smartphones?" he mused. "There are
a lot of consumer electronics out there that could
have possibilities. Probably not tablets -- they're
really just gorgeous screens -- but smartwatches?
Aha. Now you've got my attention."
No comments:
Post a Comment