Now here’s a really, really clever idea – a modular phone that lets you update individual components, so upgrading your phone doesn’t involve wastefully throwing the old one away.
The brainchild of Dave Hakkens, the Phoneblok concept envisages a future where all phones will have interchangeable and user-upgradeable components, offered for sale via a hardware ‘appstore.’
Customers can either buy a pre-configured phone off the shelf, or assemble them themselves, selecting the components that match their needs best.
Components could be offered by different companies so, for example, someone who wanted a really good camera on their phone would be able to choose between camera modules from companies like Nikon or Canon.
Similarly, someone who spends a lot of time out in the countryside may elect to install a far bigger battery, and so on.
Hakkens is hoping that he can raise enough interest in this concept to get the major manufacturers on board – and I think that would be a great thing indeed.
Sadly, much as I think this environmentally friendly concept is a truly devilishly smart answer to today’s wasteful electronics industry and rampant consumerism, I fear he may have a battle on his hand.
You only have to look at the doofuses currently lined up outside Apple stores waiting for the next, marginally improved iPhone for proof of that.
Visit http://www.phonebloks.com for more information.
