Some ideas keep coming back… In Technology Review: Rethinking the Cell Phone, a Israeli start-up proposes to make a modular cell phone, in which display and interface is seperated from the communication technology. The assumption is that sometimes you might want a phone that is as small as possible and in other cases you would like to have something with a big screen to do emails on the go. Instead of buying seperate phones, why not have multiple accessory displays… In the future, parts of the cell phone could even be integrated into your jacket or belt.
In 1999, a Silicon Valley start-up IXI had the similar vision, but could never materilize it. Partly because the perceived ‘cost saving’ is not large enough, partly because most people would rather not have too many accessories that they can forget or loose… As Moore’s law continues and phones become smaller and more powerful, it difficult to see that the time has come for the IXI’s of this world.
Please comment if you share or reject my view. Thanks.
