Modu has partnered a retailer store in Australia, Mobicity to sale the Modu device for 150$ and 50$ for the jackets.
This partnership  comes ofter the launch of Modu in 8 countries including Philippines, Brazil, India and more.
According to the Israeli newspaper Calcalist the company sales are increasing and it is estimated to hit millions of dollar.

But if you go back to the very start when Modu was everywhere on the 2008 MWC, throughout those days after the latest congress, Modu’s future is still unclear to say the least.
The Company started with a big promise and today it is selling a 2.5G device in developing countries, and as for the second generation, the CEO Dov Moran holds one device in his pocket, the reports says, but it was never shown to the public.
But there is more fundamental issue, the smartphone scene is blooming whereas feature phones are slowly going out of the picture.
That is the main problem of Modu from my point of view, the concept of one base device with the ability to change “identities”  is not working, not in a time when all mobile manufactures are building one device that does all.
I was very pleased to hear  that Modu is going to adopt Android as it OS, but as it seems Modu did not stand up to the peace.
Furthermore the world is not waiting for Modu, SK just announced a sim card that includes a OS, CPU and a gigabyte of flash storage is it sound familiar?

Do not get me wrong Modu is not heading to the deadpool , they can still become the best low-end device out there, and some final words I still hope someone in Modu will wake up, i hope it is still not too late.

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As you have already noticed we hold great respect for the social music player Tunewiki.
As long as a music player Tunewiki works like a charm, one click and you can watch the song video clip, and the revolutionary auto lyrics display.
But the social features where less intimate and except for the “top played songs by country”, the social information was not much of use, until today.

Tunewiki was fully launched on the OVI store and fully completed a race to a “cross platform” app (except WinMo and WebOS, yes that’s a hint).
The new version of Tunewiki includes a Twitter like feature that allows users to share their musical taste with others by displaying the playlist of songs they have played.
Secondly Tunewiki have worked with Flyscreen (a company that lets users place widgets on top of the homepage screen) for a Tunewiki widget.
We think that Tunewiki social essence is just starting to really pay off for the users, and the social info is now more useful, although we think that there is still a place for innovation.
For the new “cross platform” we wish that more OS’s will be added as the time passes by and more users can tune-in.

watch the new feature attach:

The Modular mobile manufacturer seems to deliver more lay-off stories than sales stories.
The low sales rate in the Philippines and the unsuccessful attempts to raise more money led the company to lay-off about 100 workers almost half of the company. Who even remember what lay-offs cycle this one is.
Although the rumors are that Modu is working on a 3G device, a touch screen and Android powered, at the end of the day it is still a 2.5G device or a feature phone.
The Jackets that are out there do not transform the device into a music device or a smartphone,  so as for now the jackets are just about panels (did anyone say so nokia in 2000?).
This is a state of to be or to cease for Modu, it has to do some changes, more likely, drastic changes and it is not just about the burn rate or head count.

Since Modu’s soft-launch in Israel Modu kept its cards very close the the chest. We only know that about 500 devices were sold (actually it was given free because users had to provide feedback about the product). Modu did not share information about its future deals, about expected launch time of the modu2, and of course no real details about the soft launch in Israel at all. Modu did share with us that users’ feedback claimed it is “the real thing” somehow i find it very hard to imagine people’s reaction to a very poor featured but small device is that this is the real thing. especially if the demographics of these users is youngsters who have no money. And how much can you appreciate a feedback you get from someone who got something for free and is obliged to provide you with a feedback?!
Today we are informed that Globe Telecom, the second largest operator in the Philippines is about to launch the Modu. It is said that the company will run an ad campaign of 1 million dollars. In an interview to Pocket-Lint, Modu’s CEO, Dov Moran stated that “The device just isn’t good enough for demanding Brits and Americans who like to surf the internet and stay connected”. Moran forgot to mention that the launch in Israel is more a friendly gesture than a public demand for the device.

In other words in most countries a device which lacks 3G connectivity is not welcome, that is not the situation in developing countries and this is why Modu will launch there.

[via Calcalist]