Modu was an Israeli
mobile phone company
A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sel ...
founded in 2007 by
Dov Moran
Dov Moran ( he, דב מורן; born 1955) is an Israeli entrepreneur, inventor and investor, best known as the inventor of the USB memory stick, and one of the most prominent Israeli hi-tech leaders.
Biography
Dov Moran was born in Ramat Gan, Is ...
. The company invented the Modu, a
modular cellular device which could be used in various other devices. Modu held the record for the world's lightest
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
, and it was the first
modular cellphone. The Modu phone enabled users to personalize their mobile's looks and features by inserting it into a range of unique phone enclosures, known as Modu jackets. The jackets available were keyboard, sporty chassis, camera, and MP3 player.
It was launched in Israel in June 2009.
The headquartered of Modu was in
Kfar Saba
Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...
and it had over 130 employees.
Engadget
''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...
reported that Modu would cease operations in February 2011 as it attempted to pay back debts and salaries owed to its workers.
In mid-May 2011, Google acquired several Modu Mobile patents for $4.9 million. In 2013, Google-owned
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
announced it was developing a modular phone called
Project Ara
Project Ara was a modular smartphone project under development by Google. The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technology and Projects team within Motorola Mobility while it was a Google subsidiary. Google retained the ATAP group whe ...
.
Core: The modu 1 Phone
The Modu 1 phone contains 2GB of internal memory and a music player.
See also
*
Economy of Israel
The economy of Israel is a developed free-market economy. The prosperity of Israel's advanced economy allows the country to have a sophisticated welfare state, a powerful modern military said to possess a nuclear-weapons capability, modern inf ...
References
{{reflist
External links
modu official website
Defunct mobile phone companies
Defunct mobile phone manufacturers