Modu cellphone reportedly launching this week in Israel

Take this one with a grain of salt, but word from across the Atlantic is that Modu will finally (finally!) launch its long-awaited, self-titled handset in just a few days. If you'll recall, we actually toyed with the revamped handset as well as a few "jackets" back at MWC this year, but at that point, no one wanted to share any details surrounding the grand launch plan. Now, however, a report from Israel states that the phone -- along with one jacket -- will go on sale this Wednesday (July 22nd) for 500 Israeli shekels, or right around $130. So, does this mean that elusive touchscreen Modu is just a few days/weeks/months away, or what?

[Thanks, Dror]

[David @ Jul 19th 2009 11:26AM]

What an amazing and not at all crappy phone!

[DanielT @ Jul 19th 2009 11:32AM]

Darren Murph has been a busy man.

[brr404 @ Jul 19th 2009 11:41AM]

small screen =S

[HorizonSmoker @ Jul 19th 2009 11:48AM]

screw phone jackets if the phone i shyte

[HorizonSmoker @ Jul 19th 2009 11:48AM]

is

[Sea Urchin @ Jul 19th 2009 11:49AM]

What is so good about this phone????

[Hike15 @ Jul 19th 2009 12:19PM]

if you get bored with the phone you can change the case without getting an all new phone

[Chasethebase @ Jul 19th 2009 12:22PM]

The one on the right looks about the best of the bunch...

[MeanSpyvie @ Jul 19th 2009 2:48PM]

The one on the right is the core phone, the others are "jackets", all containing the same core.

[ichheissesuperfantastisch @ Jul 19th 2009 12:41PM]

are they hoping that the nokia faceplate trend of 2000 is going to make a comeback?

[jason @ Jul 19th 2009 1:03PM]

Three stories in a row about cell phones? Ughhh

[GBeatzRecrds @ Jul 19th 2009 1:40PM]

Palestine?

[tickles @ Jul 20th 2009 2:56PM]

..no, this blog is about consumer tech and this article is about a cell phone. If you're interested in innovation from the Arabs who in the 70s decided to start calling themselves Palestinians maybe you should read blogs on dynamite belts or child themed propaganda TV shows.

[docer @ Jul 19th 2009 9:31PM]

No, they don't get anything new there, only the crap Jawwal has for sale since Israel won't give any bandwidth to Wataniyye... Maybe they didn't give Peres enough of a bribe. Of course phones are the least of their worries (occupation, illegal settlements, water theft, the wall, etc.)

[zedster @ Jul 19th 2009 3:23PM]

before you picture this phone sucking remember much of the modu team was at a company called m-systems, who invented flash drives (and was later bought by sandisk)

[zedster @ Jul 19th 2009 3:27PM]

http://blog.modumobile.com/

its a confirmed Wednesday launch, from the official blog

[the_moder_las @ Jul 19th 2009 3:55PM]

Indeed it will be launched, but only 1-3 jackets in the begining.
Its a long wait for a touch screen...
http://www.dtown.co.il/articles/892.html

[G. I. @ Jul 20th 2009 6:57AM]

Looks like crap.

[Uri @ Jul 21st 2009 10:56AM]

This is only a test run for Modu who are selling it to Cellcom users in order to receive feedback on a regular basis from the users. It is not yet being sold on a wide scale in Israel.
Here's a video that kind of explains what it does (but not really):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fx4WUutlJY