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There is little doubt that today's smartphones offer room for improvement. Ubiquitous and beloved though they may be, the portable devices are fragile, offer limited choice, and generate a growing mass of e-waste that's been called nothing short of a "global time bomb."
毫无疑问，今天的智能手机依然存在改进的空间。尽管如今手机无处不在，深受人们的喜爱，但它们十分脆弱，且选择有限，还产生了越来越多的电子垃圾，可谓不折不扣的“全球定时炸弹”。
Google's Project Ara aims to change all that. With a modular, open-source approach to smartphone design, Project Ara phones will be based on a structural frame -- dubbed the "endoskeleton," or "Endo" -- on which to attach smartphone modules of the owner's choice, such as a display, keyboard, camera, or even specialized components such as a glucose monitor. In other words, you design the phone you want, and don't pay for parts that you don't care about.
谷歌（Google）推出的Project Ara项目目的就是要改变这种现状。这个项目采取模块化开源方式设计智能手机，在手机的结构框架——即所谓的“内骨骼”——上附加用户自己选择的智能手机模块，比如显示器、键盘、摄像头，甚至还有葡萄糖监视器等专门部件。换句话说，用户能自行设计自己想要的手机，无需为自己不想要的部件浪费钱。
The concept is notable for its customizability and overall do-it-yourself appeal, but modular phones are also anticipated with much enthusiasm for the reductions in replacement costs and e-waste they could bring. Fry a component? No need to exchange or throw out the whole phone -- just replace the part that's broken. The result, as some have suggested, could be that the modular smartphone is "the only phone you'll ever need."
这个概念引人注意的是可定制性以及自己动手的吸引力，此外，模块化手机令人翘首期待之处还在于，它能降低重置成本，同时减少随之产生的电子垃圾。更换某个部件？无需更换或扔掉整部手机，只需更换出了问题的部分。正如某些人所说，模块化智能手机可能将成为“大家需要的唯一一部手机。”
That's the thinking, anyway. The reality, however, is that modular phones have a long way to go. The first Project Ara phones are expected in January for around $50, but a lot has to happen first. And even if the pieces do fall into place -- so to speak -- it's not at all clear that consumers are ready.
至少这是谷歌的想法。然而，现实情况是，模块化手机还有很长的路要走。Project Ara的第一款产品将于明年1月面世，售价预计在50美元上下，但中间还有很多工作要做。而且就算谷歌一切准备就绪，消费者们也不一定已经做好了准备。
'People are sick of throwing out their phones'
‘人们不愿换手机’
Google's modular approach may be the best-publicized so far, but it's not unique. The Chinese manufacturer ZTE offers the quasi-modular Eco-Mobius. And preceding the October announcement of Project Ara was the launch of the Phonebloks project, led by Dutch designer David Hakkens. Created to address the e-waste problem, Phonebloks envisions an "app store" of sorts for hardware through which users can buy new and used components as well as sell their old ones.
谷歌的模块化手机项目可能是媒体报道最多的一个，但它并不是独一份。中国手机厂商中兴（ZTE）就推出了准模块化的Eco-Mobius手机。而在去年十月Project Ara项目公布之前，荷兰设计师大卫o哈肯斯就牵头推出了 Phonebloks项目。后者设想建立一个类似“应用程序商店”的硬件交易平台，用户能在这个平台上买卖全新和二手部件。项目的宗旨是解决电子垃圾问题。
Phonebloks has since thrown its support behind Project Ara. Before that, it conducted an online campaign on "crowdspeaking"platform Thunderclap, where it garnered more than 950,000 supporters and attained a social reach of more than 380 million people.
Phonebloks表示支持Project Ara项目。此前，Phonebloks在“大众演说”（“crowd speaking”）平台Thunderclap上举行了线上宣传活动，聚集了95万多名支持者，覆盖的受众人数超过3.8亿。
"We didn't know what the demand for this was -- that's why we did an online campaign," Hakkens told Fortune. "Turned out quite a lot of people are pretty sick of throwing out their phones every couple of years."
哈肯斯告诉《财富》（Fortune）杂志：“我们不清楚市场对我们项目的需求有多大，因此我们举行了这次线上宣传活动。结果我们发现，原来许多人很不情愿每隔几年就换一次手机。”
'Manufacturers aren't interested'
‘制造厂商不感兴趣’
There has been no shortage of critics for the modular concept. (A taste: the writer John Brownlee, who penned a piece for Fast Company shortly after Phonebloks' launch entitled, "Why Lego Design Principles Don't Work On Smartphones.")
但是，模块化概念的批评声也不少。【比如：Phonebloks推出后不久，约翰o布朗利就在《快公司》杂志（Fast Company）上撰文《为什么说乐高设计原则不适合智能手机》。】
Hakkens admits there are significant market challenges to such a phone.
哈肯斯承认，模块化手机面临极大的市场挑战。
For one, "current phone manufacturers aren't really interested in this phone," he said. "Currently, they are in charge and decide which components are in the phone. They prefer to see an open market where they can sell straight to the consumer."
哈肯斯表示，首先，“目前的手机厂商对模块化手机不感兴趣。目前手机厂商决定着手机中有哪些部件。它们更愿意看到一个开放的市场，一个它们直接面向终端消费者的市场。”
With regard to Ara, there remains a lack of clarity around the project since Google sold much of Motorola to Lenovo in January 2014. "Who's going to do it?"asked Ramon Llamas, a research manager for mobile phones at IDC. "Is it a Motorola thing? A Google thing? This has Google's fingerprints all over it, but with Motorola heading to Lenovo, there's reason to question. Does Google want to get into the hardware business again?"
而最初由摩托罗拉发起的Ara项目本身也存在较大的模糊性，因为谷歌于2014年1月将摩托罗拉（Motorola）的很大部分卖给了联想（Lenovo）。IDC公司手机行业研究经理雷蒙o拉马斯反问：“这个项目到底应该由谁来推进？它是摩托罗拉的工作？还是谷歌的事情？这个项目可谓充满了谷歌的烙印，但随着摩托罗拉投入联想的怀抱，人们有理由产生质疑。谷歌到底是不是愿意再次涉足硬件业务？”
Even if it does -- which is unlikely -- it will need an ecosystem of partners to make modules for the phone, said Peter Semmelhack, founder and CEO of Bug Labs, which makes a "Lego-like" hardware platform of its own for digital devices. "Every module is a product with its own life cycle and road map," he said. "It becomes a geometric problem."
Bug Labs公司创始人兼首席执行官彼得o赛莫哈克表示，这一点不大可能。退一步说，即使谷歌有意涉足硬件业务，它也需要众多合作伙伴来为它手机制造部件。Bug Labs公司运营着一个“乐高式”的数字设备硬件平台。赛莫哈克说：“每个模块都是有着自身生命周期和路线图的产品。它成了一个几何学问题。”
'The countervailing problem will be cost'
‘关键问题在于如何控制成本’
As for retailers and carriers, a modular device could -- albeit briefly -- offer a modicum of much-needed differentiation, Llamas said. But the investment required could be significant.
拉马斯称，模块化设备可以为零售商和运营商提供急需的差异化（尽管只是暂时的）。但所需的投资可能十分巨大。
"Think about training your sales force, how much inventory you'll have to carry, all the different colors and designs you may have to have," he said. "The last thing you want is to hang onto inventory that's just not moving."
拉马斯说：“想想训练销售队伍，想想将需要准备多少库存，将需要采购各种颜色和设计的部件。人们最不愿看到的就是库存积压。”
And then there's the question of whether such a device is feasible from an engineering perspective.
还有一个问题就是，这种设备从工程角度而言是否可行。
"I'm not an engineer, but I know if you take two objects and slide them on top of each other again and again, eventually they won't lock as well as they used to," Llamas said. "For this to really come together, the parts have to be able to withstand shock, drops, the elements, and that's a huge thing for me."
拉马斯说：“我本人不是工程师，但我知道，如果你把两个物体一次次组合在一起，天长日久，组合就会变得不那么顺畅。要使部件组合得天衣无缝，各个部件必须能经受冲击和跌落等情况。我认为，这绝对不是一件容易的事。”
One of the most compelling arguments? Cost. The inability for consumers to service their own devices today is hardly an oversight; it takes a variable out of the equation.
而最关键的问题则在于成本控制。如今消费者不能定制手机并不是因为缺乏相应的理念；而是客观条件还不完全具备。
"I have a soft spot in my heart for what they're trying to do," Semmelhack said. "They're trying in essence to provide consumers with what they're missing right now, which is choice." At the same time, "the countervailing problem will be cost. Modularity comes with a lot of complexity on the hardware level, the software level, the mechanical design level -- even aesthetics. In a mass market, cost is probably the most important factor, and the only way to get the price down is to make the same thing in large quantities."
赛莫哈克说：“我很认同模块化智能手机的设想。这类项目本质上是尝试给消费者提供更多选择，而这正是消费者所缺乏的东西。”与此同时，“存在的问题是成本控制。模块化在硬件、软件、机械设计乃至美学层面都十分复杂。在大众市场，成本可能是最重要的因素，而降低价格的唯一办法就是大批量生产同一种产品。”
With the modular approach, Semmelhack said, "you lose that scale."
赛莫哈克说道，而模块化就意味着无法实现规模化生产。
'Moto tried this before'
‘摩托罗拉曾经进行过尝试’
The modular concept isn't without precedent, most notably in the PC category.
模块化概念并非前无古人，特别是在个人电脑领域。
"We're seeing, through Ara, an attempt to make smartphones much more like PCs in the sense that when you go to Dell or HP or Lenovo, you get to tell them what to put in -– processor, memory, disk, display, etc.," said Jack Gold, principal of research firm J. Gold Associates. "Ara is an attempt to take this model down to smartphones and probably tablets eventually."
研究公司J. Gold Associates负责人杰克o金说：“Ara项目旨在使手机效仿个人电脑。大家购买戴尔（Dell）、惠普（HP）或联想的电脑，都会告诉厂商你需要哪些配置——处理器、内存、硬盘、显示器等等。Ara尝试把这种模式带到手机行业，最终带到平板电脑生产领域。”
Will consumers bite? Llamas said it's too early to tell.
这个模式到底能不能获得消费者的认可？赛莫哈克称目前还无法判断。
"It's hard to build demand when there's no product currently out there," he said.
金说：“没有做出产品之前很难创造需求。”
Gold said appeal could be generational. "Being able to offer a 'customized' phone, particularly to twenty- and thirtysomethings, could be enough of a differentiator to make it very popular," he said. "Of course, Moto tried this before, with marginal success, albeit with far less customization."
金表示，模块化智能手机可能对某些年龄层的消费者颇具吸引力。“特别是对二三十岁的年轻人而言，能‘定制’这一点就足够特别，足够获得极高的人气。当然，摩托罗拉曾经进行过类似的尝试，结果差强人意，尽管它的定制化程度要低得多。”
Semmelhack sees potential in certain industries, rather than the broader consumer market.
赛莫哈克认为，模块化生产在某些行业具有潜力，但并不是在整个消费市场都可行。
"There's all this emphasis in mass-market solutions to try to find 'the killer app,'" Semmelhack said. "There are some out there, but there's also a category of lesser killer apps within communities and subcategories -- medical is a great example."
赛莫哈克说：“眼下，大众市场解决方案强调开发出“杀手级应用”。这样的应用确实存在，但还有一类在特定社区和子类别中如鱼得水的热门应用，比如医疗领域就是一个很好的例子。”
With a modular approach to smartphones, he said, it would be more feasible to address users with diabetes or juvenile asthma, for example, in economical ways. "Say there are 100 markets with idiosyncratic needs," Semmelhack said. "That isn't economically feasible to serve in a mass-market way."
赛莫哈克表示，举例来说，采用模块化方式生产的智能手机将帮助糖尿病和青少年哮喘患者以更经济的方式满足特殊需求。他说：“假如有100个存在特殊需求的市场，从经济角度而言，我们无法以服务大众市场的方式来服务这些市场。”
Done right, it can make economic sense for Google or any other phone-maker. "Instead of selling 10 million of one thing, from Google's perspective, you sell a million of 10 things," Semmelhack said. "You can do it economically because you have invested in the platform."
如果处理得当，就经济角度而言，这个模式对谷歌或其他手机制造商来说将是可行的。赛莫哈克说：“从谷歌的角度而言，是从同一种产品卖出1000万件变成10种产品每种卖出100万件。因为投资于（模块化生产）平台，所以能够以经济可行的方式实现这个转变。”（财富中文网）
