Sale, at a lesser extent because of a modular phone? Not really. You realize that MOST major companies get the vast majority of their profit from relatively small percentages of their user base. The mass numbers moving is great and all, but when you are interested in the bottom line you cater to the needs of the demographic that offers you the most support, all the rest just are along for the ride.
So now you have a modular phone, which is going to kill profits because you don't have to buy an entire new device every year or two; if only economics were that simple. What you essentially have ladies and gentlemen, is the Poke'mon of phones - gotta get all the accessories baby! USB Port, QWERTY Keyboard, Touchscreen, or dare I say DUEL TOUCHSCREENS! Three different cameras to make sure you REALLY capture the lint in your pocket from all the best possible angles.
This isn't just sarcasm either - think about it long and hard. You have a phone that you can customize however you want, including multiple forward facing cameras if you really want to have fun with images (think the 3DS if you will, or even the Microsoft Kinect) as well as ports for SD Cards, memory slots, USB ports, keyboards, and any number of additions, parts, and functions that can be designed by independent developers in addition of course to the ones developed by big name brand companies.
What you have is a phone with UNLIMITED upgrade capabilities, and with it you have a profit margin limited only by your ability to market any number of frivolous accessories to the percentage of your consumer bracket that is the most responsible for driving your profits along. Also being modular it means that more companies and developers can use it as a test market for unusual or unique additions at a reduced risk because you don't have to design an entire test phone just to do a trial market for one feature or function, you just develop a limited number of the test item and ship it out - at a cost much less than manufacturing an entire phone that feats said function just for a market test.
This will likely lead to some very stupid, and some very awesome, new technology for our cellular devices. This is the nature of consumerism - we will more directly drive the market, because the individual pieces we invest an interest, and our money, in, will prompt developers to market similar and upgraded versions of those products - products very likely to sale because we the consumer are the reason they marketed those particular products in the first place.
It is, ultimately, a potential to be a win-win for everyone.
here here, well said cirocco
and i forgot to mention that the main, host company phonebloks planned to have different size bases so you could have a tablet sized base, phone, large phone, small, etc. they may even go laptop size, with maybe a hinge module that the screen would go on or something. or even cooler, coffee Table sized. imagine your entire coffee table being a giant tablet.
