Is Google's Project Ara Looking Back to Invent the Future of Smartphones?

By Tim Beyers – Nov 7, 2013 at 7:00PM

NASDAQ: GOOGL

Alphabet

Modular design has potentially disruptive benefits.

Motorola's modular smartphones could be a threat to the rest of the smartphone industry, Fool contributor Tim Beyers says in the following video.

Dubbed "Project Ara," the idea is to create a completely customizable smartphone experience. A zig to the Apple iPhone's one-size-fits-all zag, and just the sort of crazy strategy that makes Google (GOOGL) the rule breaker it is, Tim says.

Writing at Moto's blog, Paul Eremenko of the Ara team said the idea is to create an entirely collaborative ecosystem that grants users the power to decide everything: "what your phone does, how it looks, where and what it's made of, how much it costs, and how long you'll keep it."

But is there really a market for this sort of made-to-order, open-device design? Tim answers this question and more in the video. Please watch now and then leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers owns shares of Apple and Google. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Google. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.