Project Ara is “recalculating” its launch – but “isn’t going anywhere”
Trouble ahead for Google’s modular smartphone?
If you were looking forward to the launch of Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone – and who wouldn’t be? – then you might want to cool your enthusiasm a little bit.
A series of tweets posted to the official Project Ara account last night say the upcoming pilot scheme, which would have seen a limited amount of Ara phones going on sale in Puerto Rico, is being “re-routed” and “recalculated”.
It all sounds quite ominous, but the account also tweeted a couple of reassurances: first, that the re-routing doesn’t mean that Puerto Rico doesn’t feature in the Ara launch plans; and second, that Ara “isn’t going anywhere”. So don’t worry. Too much.
Still, the fact that Google’s plans, made several months ago, are being scrapped does suggest that something is up with the development of the smartphone system, which will allow owners to customise and update their phone through a series of interchangeable modules.
More updates are promised for next week, so hopefully we’ll have a clearer idea of Ara’s roadmap, and perhaps when we’ll be able to get our hands on the first batch of modules here in the UK. In the meantime, take a look at our Project Ara preview.
[Source: Project Ara Twitter]