You’re article is nicely written, however, I disagree with you entirely.

If we boil down trends we can see that today that the driving force behind purchases of mobile devices are: price and availability.

Price is clear and is one of the reason most carriers subsidize high-end phones to encourage people to purchase phones which utilize more aspects of the carriers service and raises income.

Availability doesn’t mean coverage (though that’s also a factor) but rather what services I can consume on my device. Today convenient phone, SMS, and internet have become a standard expected in the package. Other services are a bonus that some time catch on – butoften don’t.

For instance – I own a cell phone and a separate mp3 player (even though my cell phone can play mp3). Because I prefer to have a device with focus on mp3 and video so I am willing to pay more money for it. This is true of many people as you pointed out in your article.
But the type of services I am willing to pay more for is limited. So the question changes from “do I need [extension to device]” to “do I need [extension] for [price]”

Do I need GPS? Or Do I need a GPS for another $20-50?
Do I need a high-end digital camera? Do I need a high-end digital camera for another $20-50?
etc.

Most modern 3G devices give you a strong base with many software extensions for cheap or for free. And the wealth of applications offered thanks to the ease of software development and open source is enormous.

Modu comes pretty naked. Not everyone can afford to develop and sell hardware jackets so the amount of extensions are limited, not to mention more expensive.

So the availability of services I can consume on a Modu device without paying more is very limited.

Personally I think if the Modu “base” was offered at $20-40 I would be hot to get it. For $200 for a base and 2 jackets (which almost guarantees I’ll need to buy more jackets in the not distant future) – why not get a G1 or iPhone or E71 that come with a strong platform that can be extended (often for free) permanently without need to carry more equipment?

All in all it seems that right now Modu offers neither good price nor availability of services compared to the competition. And while the competition is improving itself, Modu just goes against the trend…

That doesn’t mean Modu is a bad idea or bad implementation, just more of a niche product for certain people and not a market-changing device.

IMHO of course.