The Moto Z is an ambitious and impressive device in and of itself, but its success will, in no small part, ultimately be dependent on accessories. In much the same way a gaming console’s hardware prowess doesn’t mean a heck of lot with a great ecosystem of games, a modular handset isn’t much to speak of without the right set of mods.
The Z offered a decent array at launch (far exceeding the LG G5), including battery pack, speakers and that Hasselblad True Zoom camera. And just ahead of that, the company announced that it would be opening the modular system to non-partner developers.
Today Motorola takes things a step further, launching a partnership with crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. The pair have put together a contest in search of the best Mod idea – akin to ZTE’s recent crowdsourcing effort. And like that competition, the prize is…fine, I guess (better, no doubt, than ZTE’s trip to CES). Ten winners selected by a “judging panel of industry leaders,” will get a Moto Mods Development Kit, a Moto Z and trip to Chicago to meet the Moto Mods development team and talk about the Cubs, probably. And all the finalists will get the aforementioned hardware.
The contest closes at the end of January. In the meantime, the company will also be hosting hackathons all over the country designed to get people developing peripherals for the system, starting with one in New York next month.