News broke late yesterday that Google was selling its Motorola subsidiary to Lenovo for US$2.91 billion. With the dust settling around the announcement, it has now been confirmed that Google is not just hanging onto Motorola’s patents. It will also keep Project Ara, the modular concept that Motorola first unveiled back in late October. Confirmation came during the conference call that followed the announcement by the two companies.
The project falls under the umbrella of the Advanced Technology and Projects group led by Regina Dugan. The 100-member strong team will now report to Sundar Pichai while maintaining a more independent role.
Project Ara is a modular phone concept which allows users to fully customize their phones. Starting with a base plate called an endo, various modules can easily be slid onto it to build a unique smartphone. Aside from the more typical modules for a processor, memory and camera, it could eventually offer biotech sensors and more. Users will also be able to upgrade single modules at a time rather than having to replace the entire phone. For example, they could upgrade to a new camera simply by sliding out that component and replacing with a new one.
The development agreement that Motorola had with 3D Systems will presumably shift over to Google as well.
Source : The Verge