Google launches Project Ara modular smartphone MDK

Google has taken one step closer to launching its Project Ara modular smartphone design. The company on Wednesday announced that the first version of its Project Ara Module Developers Kit is now available for free to developers. The MDK, 0.10, is “a very early version,” Google says, but will still provide developers with some insight into the project and give them the opportunity to provide feedback based on what they’ve seen to this point.

Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group has released a Module Developers Kit (MDK) for Project Ara, its forthcoming modular smartphone, providing reference implementations for various design features. The ATAP describes Ara as follows: “The Ara platform consists of an on-device packet-switched data network based on the MIPI UniPro protocol stack, a flexible power bus, and an elegant industrial design that mechanically unites the modules with an endoskeleton.” The MDK goes on to note that the success of the modular smartphone concept is dependent on the development of a rich ecosystem of modular blocks that users can pick and choose from.