Technology
Product design 4/4
smartphones".
"We want to do for hardware what
the Android platform has done for
software: create a vibrant thirdparty developer ecosystem, lower
the barriers to entry, increase the
pace of innovation, and substantially
compress development timelines,"
the company states on its website.
Through Ara, Motorola is aiming to
drive a more "thoughtful, expressive,
and open relationship" between
users, developers, and their phones.
However, Motorola is not fully open
to collaboration at present as the
company declined to speak to SB
about the project.
Although holding its cards close to its
chest, Motorola must be given credit for
accepting the need to change the current
mobile phone device model, particularly
when "all telecoms companies have
an influence on the environment and
a responsibility to manage that,"
according to Forum for the Future.
Since Cooper's first handheld mobile
phone was demonstrated by Motorola
in 1973, the snowballed effect of his
invention has reached unsustainable
levels. Earlier this year, a UN study
The Phonebloks concept
means users would upgrade or
replace elements of a phone
rather than an entire handset
found that out of the world's estimated
seven billion people, six billion now
have access to mobile phones.
These staggering figures are the
result of a society hell-bent on
consumption and although behaviour
change is a key factor here, the
collaboration between sustainability
conscious
designers
and
the
telecommunications industry as a
whole is critical to engendering a
harmonious
relationship
with
technology and in particular the
smartphone.
