Google says Tango developer tablets will be available later this year for $1024, demos Tango and Ara at I/O
Google “moonshot” group demos modular phone that (almost) actually works — Google's Paul Eremenko, head of Project Ara. — SAN FRANCISCO—Google's Advanced Technology and Projects …
Context & Ripple Effects
At Google I/O in San Francisco, the Advanced Technology and Projects group — Paul Eremenko's two-year-cycle 'moonshot' shop — put working prototypes of both Project Tango and Project Ara on stage, with the Tegra K1-powered Tango dev kit now confirmed for release later this year at $1,024. The price point had been previewed in early June when Engadget got hands-on time with the 3D-mapping tablet; I/O turned that preview into a shipping commitment.
First-order effects
- Android developers get a concrete date and price for depth-sensing hardware, moving Tango from concept video to a purchasable $1,024 tablet before year-end.
- Project Ara graduates from promise to demonstration: Eremenko showed a modular phone that boots and runs, giving prospective module makers their first evidence the platform actually functions.
Second-order effects
- SlashGear's coverage of the announcement reports LG is building a Tango device targeted at 2015 — unconfirmed beyond that outlet's reporting, but if accurate it means an established OEM is already planning to carry Google's sensing stack into consumer hardware.
- Component suppliers for depth cameras and motion-tracking sensors gain a second demand channel beyond smartphones if Tango-style tablets become a standard developer purchase.
Third-order effects
- ATAP's structure — fixed-lifespan projects judged at public demos rather than internal reviews — positions Google to industrialize hardware experiments through developer ecosystems first, letting market uptake decide which moonshots become products.
- If modular phones hold up under real developer testing, handset design could split between integrated flagships and configurable base-plus-modules, forcing OEMs to choose which side of that divide they build for.
The trend: Google is running parallel hardware bets through ATAP — depth-sensing tablets and modular phones — socializing them via developer conferences and paid dev kits instead of traditional product launches.