A response to Peter Chen’s blog post about “Phoneblok”

Motorola’s Project Ara

I believe that the value proposition of Phoneblok is definitely a “billion dollar idea” because in a world where smart phones designs are becoming increasingly homogeneous, customers desire products that are unique to themselves. Furthermore, the idea of a phone that can be cheaply customized is strategically brilliant. According to Porter’s generic strategy, a product can succeed by employing either a cost leadership strategy or product differentiation strategy. However, the ability to have low cost and efficient customization will effectively incorporate the best aspects of all four strategies. The low cost of the “blok” components mean that the phone will be accessible to a wide range of customers, the customization aspects of Phoneblok will allow the phone to deliver the exact product that the customer wants. In Peter’s post, he mentioned that Phoneblok is merely a concept and it is far from reality. However, it has been reported that Motorola has been working on the idea for a while with its “project Ara” and that it will team up with the “creators of phoneblok” to make this customizable phone a reality.

reference:

1) http://www.policymic.com/articles/70953/motorola-teams-up-with-phoneblok-for-project-ara-the-ultimate-phone-platform

2) https://blogs.ubc.ca/peterchen604/2013/09/19/phonebloks/

Picture Reference:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/10/ara1blogpost.jpg