Project Ara to 're-route' its Puerto Rico pilot launch

Project Ara, the ambitious modular smartphone concept, has been slowly ticking along on route to its limited launch, but the planned pilot scheme may be about to undergo a change-up, according to the Project Ara twitter account.

The communications are a little cryptic, but the mention of a “re-route” suggests that Project Ara may be changing its launch market. Perhaps the date is also being brought forward or pushed back, although the project was working pretty well at Google I/O earlier in the year.

Originally, Project Ara was stated for a small scale launch in Puerto Rico later this year, before the smartphone rolls out to additional markets. Project Ara finished by stating that “this is not goodbye” to the country, but this almost certainly suggests that Ara won’t be launching on the island first.

The reason for the re-route is not entirely clear. Perhaps changes at the top following the Google/Alphabet reshuffle has something to do with it, or the company may just be looking to launch in a different market environment.

We have been told to stay tuned for further details, so we will just have to sit tight.