Modu launches with modular handset, carrier partners: Israeli startup brags about device’s potential

The hype cycle offers fertile ground for startups.
Consider modu, a private company based in Israel, which today provided that familiar, heady mix of grandiose claims, intriguing technology, long launch window and big-name backers that often ignites press speculation.
Less than a week before the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, begins, modu said it would “rewrite the mobile landscape” with its modular handset, an “ecosystem” of related consumer electronics products and declarations of support from Israeli, Russian and Italian operators, as well as a bevy of heavy hitters as backers.
The device is set for launch in eight months. No pricing was mentioned by modu. According to ComputerWorld.com, the retail price is likely to be about $290 for modu alone. “Jackets” will cost about $29 to $87 apiece.
To distill the highlights of modu’s four press releases fired off today:
The modu, a phone shorter and less wide than a credit card — no word on thickness — will provide mobile phone functionality. It will slip into modu “jacket” fashion accessories and it will be the hard drive for “modu mates” — in other words, other consumer electronic devices such as MP4 video players, digital photo frames, cameras and multimedia players, the company said.
The network operators announcing their embrace of modu today included Cellcom in Israel, VimpelCom in Russia and Telecom Italia in Italy. Blaupunkt, the German multimedia and car navigation company, said it would work with modu to create “mates.” Universal Music Group will support the company by cooperating in the creation of musical artist-specific jackets. SanDisk and Texas Instruments Inc. said they too would provide support, presumably as memory and chipset suppliers.
Modu is the brainchild of Dov Moran, inventor of the USB flash drive, and a former executive at SanDisk.