????‘關(guān)鍵問題在于如何控制成本’

????拉馬斯稱，模塊化設(shè)備可以為零售商和運營商提供急需的差異化（盡管只是暫時的）。但所需的投資可能十分巨大。

????拉馬斯說：“想想訓(xùn)練銷售隊伍，想想將需要準(zhǔn)備多少庫存，將需要采購各種顏色和設(shè)計的部件。人們最不愿看到的就是庫存積壓?！?/p>

????還有一個問題就是，這種設(shè)備從工程角度而言是否可行。

????拉馬斯說：“我本人不是工程師，但我知道，如果你把兩個物體一次次組合在一起，天長日久，組合就會變得不那么順暢。要使部件組合得天衣無縫，各個部件必須能經(jīng)受沖擊和跌落等情況。我認(rèn)為，這絕對不是一件容易的事?！?/p>

????而最關(guān)鍵的問題則在于成本控制。如今消費者不能定制手機并不是因為缺乏相應(yīng)的理念；而是客觀條件還不完全具備。

????賽莫哈克說：“我很認(rèn)同模塊化智能手機的設(shè)想。這類項目本質(zhì)上是嘗試給消費者提供更多選擇，而這正是消費者所缺乏的東西?！迸c此同時，“存在的問題是成本控制。模塊化在硬件、軟件、機械設(shè)計乃至美學(xué)層面都十分復(fù)雜。在大眾市場，成本可能是最重要的因素，而降低價格的唯一辦法就是大批量生產(chǎn)同一種產(chǎn)品?！?/p>

????賽莫哈克說道，而模塊化就意味著無法實現(xiàn)規(guī)?；a(chǎn)。

????‘摩托羅拉曾經(jīng)進行過嘗試’

????模塊化概念并非前無古人，特別是在個人電腦領(lǐng)域。

????研究公司J. Gold Associates負(fù)責(zé)人杰克?金說：“Ara項目旨在使手機效仿個人電腦。大家購買戴爾（Dell）、惠普（HP）或聯(lián)想的電腦，都會告訴廠商你需要哪些配置——處理器、內(nèi)存、硬盤、顯示器等等。Ara嘗試把這種模式帶到手機行業(yè)，最終帶到平板電腦生產(chǎn)領(lǐng)域?！?/p>

????這個模式到底能不能獲得消費者的認(rèn)可？賽莫哈克稱目前還無法判斷。

????金說：“沒有做出產(chǎn)品之前很難創(chuàng)造需求。”

????金表示，模塊化智能手機可能對某些年齡層的消費者頗具吸引力?！疤貏e是對二三十歲的年輕人而言，能‘定制’這一點就足夠特別，足夠獲得極高的人氣。當(dāng)然，摩托羅拉曾經(jīng)進行過類似的嘗試，結(jié)果差強人意，盡管它的定制化程度要低得多?！?/p>

????賽莫哈克認(rèn)為，模塊化生產(chǎn)在某些行業(yè)具有潛力，但并不是在整個消費市場都可行。

????賽莫哈克說：“眼下，大眾市場解決方案強調(diào)開發(fā)出“殺手級應(yīng)用”。這樣的應(yīng)用確實存在，但還有一類在特定社區(qū)和子類別中如魚得水的熱門應(yīng)用，比如醫(yī)療領(lǐng)域就是一個很好的例子。”

????賽莫哈克表示，舉例來說，采用模塊化方式生產(chǎn)的智能手機將幫助糖尿病和青少年哮喘患者以更經(jīng)濟的方式滿足特殊需求。他說：“假如有100個存在特殊需求的市場，從經(jīng)濟角度而言，我們無法以服務(wù)大眾市場的方式來服務(wù)這些市場?！?/p>

????如果處理得當(dāng)，就經(jīng)濟角度而言，這個模式對谷歌或其他手機制造商來說將是可行的。賽莫哈克說：“從谷歌的角度而言，是從同一種產(chǎn)品賣出1000萬件變成10種產(chǎn)品每種賣出100萬件。因為投資于（模塊化生產(chǎn)）平臺，所以能夠以經(jīng)濟可行的方式實現(xiàn)這個轉(zhuǎn)變?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W(wǎng)）

????譯者：項航

????'The countervailing problem will be cost'

????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.

????"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."

????And then there's the question of whether such a device is feasible from an engineering perspective.

????"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."

????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.

????"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."

????With the modular approach, Semmelhack said, "you lose that scale."

????'Moto tried this before'

????The modular concept isn't without precedent, most notably in the PC category.

????"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."

????Will consumers bite? Llamas said it's too early to tell.

????"It's hard to build demand when there's no product currently out there," he said.

????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."

????Semmelhack sees potential in certain industries, rather than the broader consumer market.

????"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."

????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."

????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."