路透社本周報道稱，谷歌已經終止了開發模塊化智能手機的項目Project Ara。憑借光滑漂亮的技術模型，以及升級單獨手機組件或在特定用途下替換手機組件的可能性，Ara引發了許多科技觀察者的設想。盡管谷歌尚未對終止項目一事做出評價，但我們可以通過一些跡象推測背后的原因。

考慮到谷歌在三個月前還宣布計劃在2016年底推出Ara的開發工具，并將于2017年推出商用產品，這次終止項目的舉動多少有些令人驚訝。據路透社的消息源透露，這次終止項目，是由于公司硬件生產部門的大范圍改革所致。

不過Ara自身也面臨著挑戰，它存在著一定缺陷。谷歌本計劃于去年在波多黎各進行首次公開的實機展示，最后卻因故跳票。隨后，一些原定的功能因為太難實現，在項目中被取消。而Ara項目的主管也于去年離職。

從根本上說，Ara的夭折可能是其基礎概念中無法克服的缺陷所致。據Decode報道，把手機拆成許多部件，會減慢它們彼此之間的通訊速度，還會減少電池壽命，增加制造成本。

Ara的夭折也凸顯了開發手機的谷歌Advanced Technology and Projects團隊未來存在的問題。在摩托羅拉創立ATAP（并入谷歌之前）的里賈納·杜根就在5月宣布將對Ara進行實機展示之前的幾周離職去了Facebook。

杜根領導下的ATAP，曾被認為是介于傳統產品開發部門和Alphabet “大項目工廠” X之間的存在。X中擁有雄心勃勃的研究項目，例如無人駕駛汽車和Loon Wi-fi氣球。根據《紐約時報》的描述，X面臨著研發暢銷產品，而不只是進行科學實驗的壓力，Ara可能也是類似情況的受害者。

實際上，從許多方面看，Ara項目的夭折都會讓人聯想起X部門的一款特別的產品——谷歌眼鏡。谷歌眼鏡曾被認為是移動計算領域的一次徹底的重新思考。谷歌曾在2013年推出過限定功能的商業版本眼鏡。但在之后引人注目而又充滿爭議的不到兩年中，它陷入了沉睡。從本質上說，這是一次引人深思的失敗。

砍掉Ara之后，谷歌可能會避免類似的情況再次出現。對于之前幾乎從未顯露出害怕情緒的公司來說，這是風格偏向謹慎的一次明顯轉變。（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

It was uncovered this week by Reuters that Google has discontinued Project Ara, its effort to build a modular smartphone. Ara captured many tech watchers’ imaginations with slick prototypes and the possibility of upgrading individual phone components, or swapping out phone components for particular applications. Though Google hasn’t commented, there are some hints about just what led to the decision.

The cancellation is a somewhat surprising reversal, given that it was announced just three months ago that Ara developer kits would ship in late 2016, and a commercial product would arrive in 2017. According to Reuters’ sources, the cancellation is part of a broader streamlining of the company’s hardware production.

But there were also challenges and shortfalls specific to Ara. Its initial rollout, planned for last year in Puerto Rico, was delayed. Following that stall, some planned features that turned out to be too challenging to execute were stripped from the project. Ara also lost its director last year.

Ara may ultimately have been a victim of insurmountable flaws with its underlying concept. As detailed by Recode, separating a phone into components threatened to slow communication between them, while also sapping battery life and making phones more expensive.

Ara’s cancellation highlights questions about the future of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, which was developing the phone. Regina Dugan, who created ATAP at Motorola before it was folded into Google, left for Facebook just a few weeks before the May announcement of Ara’s now-scuttled rollout.

ATAP under Dugan could have been described as something between a conventional product development unit and Alphabet’s “Moonshot Factory,” X. X is behind ambitious research projects like self-driving cars and Loon wi-fi balloons. As described by the New York Times, X is facing some pressure to produce marketable products, not just science experiments, and Ara may have been the victim of similar pressure.

In fact, the Ara shutdown is in many ways reminiscent of one particular X project—Google Glass. Glass, pitched as a rethinking of mobile computing from the ground up, had a limited commercial release in 2013. But it went into hibernation less than two splashy and controversial years later, essentially a very thought-provoking failure.

By pulling Ara, Google may have avoided something similar – an apparent turn to the cautious for a company that has rarely shown fear.