By Alistair Barr
Google Inc. is planning a "modular" smartphone that consumers
can configure with different features, executives said.
Google envisions hardware modules, such as a camera or
blood-sugar monitor, that would be available in an "app store,"
like its own Google Play store for software applications.
The modules would fit into a metal "endoskeleton" designed for
the phone, which Google calls Project Ara. Flat rectangular
"modules" can be slotted into this frame, where they will be held
in place by magnets, designers said.
"The existing way of making smartphones is mature. But there are
new ways of making phones," said Kaigham Gabriel, deputy director
of Google's Advanced Technology and Projects Group, which developed
the concept for the phone. Mr. Gabriel spoke in an interview at the
first Project Ara developer conference Tuesday.
Each module would perform a particular task. One may be a
battery for the phone, while another may house a wireless antenna,
or a camera. Google controls the design of the endoskeleton, while
outside developers will design the modules.
Google is hoping to harness the creativity of thousands of
developers to build a large ecosystem of hardware modules. Google
plans to start with an entry-level phone with basic functions that
would cost roughly $50 to make.
Google didn't say how much it plans to charge for the phone.
Google also is planning an online marketplace where consumers
buy additional modules, depending on what they want their phone to
do.
"We want it to be like an app store," Mr. Gabriel said. "You may
want a blood-sugar monitor and a cigarette lighter on your phone.
Why should you not have that?"
Software-based app stores, such as Apple's App Store and Google
Play, are rich profit sources because they typically take about 30%
of the money spent on apps.
Rajeev Chand, head of research at Rutberg & Co., an
investment bank focused on the wireless and digital-media
industries, said Project Ara is a powerful idea because it could
let smartphone users upgrade their gadgets more cheaply and more
often, rather than replacing the entire device every 18 months, as
many do now.
For Project Ara to succeed, large hardware makers need to
embrace the platform and make their own modules, while wireless
network carriers also need to get on board, Mr. Chand added.
There's also the question of whether many consumers will want to
spend time customizing their phones with complex new components,
Mr. Chand said. "There may not be a consumer market for this," he
added.
The phone's creators are working on an app to help users select
modules.
They also are considering using eye tracking and heart-rate
sensors to check if users are overwhelmed by the choices, said Paul
Eremenko, the head of Project Ara. If stress levels rise, the
configurator app will whittle down the choices to a more manageable
selection, he explained.
"The smartphone ecosystem is in early stages of its development,
like the car in the early 1900s when you could have any color you
wanted as long as it was black," Mr. Eremenko explained. "Today,
about 25% of the value of automobiles is in the customization. We
want to do that with smartphones."
Write to Alistair Barr at alistair.barr@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires