Rumour: Modu Phone Finally Headed To Production
Modu, the modular mobile phone jacket system we fondled in 2008 and whose release date we heard about briefly in February, is apparently ready for production.
Word came to us today via a tipster, via Israel, via Google Translate, so proceed with much scepticism. That said, we do have an article citing Modu CEO Dov Moran, who says the modular handset is scheduled for launch in Southeast Asia in Q2 (as we reported in February). The report adds that the 200 Modu employees, in addition to churning out new phones, have been asked to swap their Nokia handsets for Modu ones.
As a refresher, the Modu concept is pretty simple: Take one tiny, tiny mobile phone and build a number of “jackets” around it that do a variety of different tasks. One may be an “mp3 jacket,” for example, while another could simply be a colour palette swap for a night on the town. If you’re still confused, think of the Wiimote and its many worthless white plastic sports-related accessories, except in this case the add-ons do something, like GPS.
Moran explains in a video from earlier this year:
Sadly, if this strikes your fancy and you live in the U.S. you’re out of luck (for now). In the article, Moran only mentions Southeast Asia, Russia and other scattered territories outside the Americas. Personally, as I sit here today with my multitasking iPhone 3G laying lovingly at my side, I’m having a hard time getting worked up over the snub. [Calcalist (translated) via Talking Mobile]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
jewsrock
Btw Calcalist is a very respected newspaper.
jewsrock
- There is no mention of India (thats just a slip by Google translate)
- The line will be launched this month in Israel
- After Israel, the phone will be launched in "South-East Asia"
nopowers
This concept sounds really lame and overtly complicated. Who wants to cary round/have to have a bunch of sleeves to add functionality? I guess feel really bad for the employees the most, who HAVE to switch there existing phones for this thing.
a novel idea.
A modular phone,
that belongs in ikea.
I can see this in going,
in a whole new direction,
When somebody makes,
a vibrator extension.
When your phone
is on "vibrate"
It's meaning is now
new on the slate.
This could begin,
a new industry,
Physical Phone-sex,
ecstasy!
ouch
Stay outta my pocket!
Christian Pacheco
@Con Seannery: that... was epix. that is all
i wish i had a cafe racer
@Con Seannery: I think I'll recycle this baby. I laid it down on a SUNDAY. Nobody's gonna see this...
Con Seannery
@Xterm11_is Rhyming:
You think your rhymes, your lyrics, are quite clever,
You think you've got all those skills which it takes,
But I'll tell you what you've considered, never,
Do not just rhythm, just metric, poets make,
Your talent, your execution, are strong,
Your verse, it is crafted quite distinctly,
Technically, nothing you have done is wrong,
And your messages, delivered succinctly,
A worthy opponent, indeed you are,
And off of the tongue, your verse always rolls,
But your reputation, surely I'll mar,
And your poems, I'll rake over the coals!
You made a mistake, you thought you'd won it,
While your verse is free-form, mine is a sonnet!
Con Seannery
good ideea, but could be better
the jackets could be independent from the phone...
kind of a phone+MP3player=phone with mp3 player function; and separately should work independently
phone+PDA=smartPhone
phone+netBook=netbook with 3G
and that is about it...
the speech about you are stuck with a phone is irrelevant, because with modu you are stuck with a jacket, yeah maybe a new jacket is cheaper than a new phone... but...it so few jackets, and phone+jacket is kind of big in sizes
I can see a Dr. Evil kinda person using the left 2
Uncletwitch
Sadly, This phone doesn't seem to be GSM based. Great idea for a phone though
nightwheel
@Ambiguous Blob 2.0: This could actually be really useful if they execute it properly. As Chewbinator says, you don't carry all the sleeves, just the one most suited to your current activity. If you are going paintballing, put on the shockproof sleeve. Long train journey, put on the media player sleeve. Night on the town, put on the 5 megapixel camera + Xenon flash sleeve. Wearing a suit and don't want a bulging pocket, go sleeveless. It saves having multiple phones and keeping the contacts on them up to date.
@Ambiguous Blob 2.0: You don't have to carry around all the sleeves. I think it would be more like if you wanted a different phone you wouldn't have to buy a completely different one, just buy a new "sleeve". I mean you could do it every few months or put he blackberry type sleeve on when you go to work and the sport sleeve on when you get back home. If anything it's overtly simple. All you do is slip it in the sleeve. Want a different phone? Get a new sleeve.