Pilot of Project Ara set for Puerto Rico
Google plans to launch its Project Ara, a modular, customizable smartphone platform, later this year in Puerto Rico, partnering with Ingram Micro Mobility on forward logistics.
Google describes Project Ara on its website as: “The smartphone is one of the most empowering and intimate objects in our lives. Yet most of us have little say in how the device is made, what it does, and how it looks. And 5 billion of us don’t have one. What if you could make thoughtful choices about exactly what your phone does, and use it as a creative canvas to tell your own story? Introducing Project Ara. Designed exclusively for 6 billion people.”
Ingram Micro Mobility is a supply-chain service provider founded in 1979. For Project Ara, Ingram said it will provide product receipt, print customization of device modules, product assembly, consumer packaging and delivery of devices.
“The modularity and versatility of Google’s Project Ara will allow users to get exactly what they want from their device, even if that is always changing,” said Bashar Nejdawi, EVP of Ingram Micro and Ingram Micro Mobility president for North America. “The technology and customizable module options will continue to meet the consumer’s device needs – preventing the device from a fate of the junk drawer or worse, a landfill. We’re excited to help this new category of smartphone take hold in the marketplace.”
Project Ara was conceived by Google’s advanced technology and projects group as a way to “enable users to create a modular smartphone that is precisely tailored to their functional and aesthetic preferences,” according to the website.
In practice, the device starts as a structural frame and data backbone. Users then add modules that confer different functionality and features. The modules are covered with “shells” that allow for creative customization by the user.
Based in Santa Ana, Calif., Ingram Micro reported net revenue in 2014 of $46.5 billion.
The company’s Recycling Mobile Devices: A Consumer Awareness Study, found that half of American adults don’t know how to properly dispose of e-waste like cellphones. Reducing e-waste is one of the goals of Project Ara.
