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Help Motorola Develop its Next Moto Mod

Motorola and Indiegogo have launched a developer contest to find the next Moto Z accessories.

 & Stephanie Mlot Contributor

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Motorola over the summer introduced Moto Mods, a line of accessories that snap onto its new Moto Z smartphones and turn its handsets into a camera, projector, speaker, or battery pack. But now it wants your help determining which mod to develop next.

Motorola, in partnership with Indiegogo and Verizon, wants Moto Mod fans to submit their best ideas for new mods now through Jan. 31. It will give those with the most promising concepts a development kit and Moto Z in order to work on their ideas.

They'll then have the chance to attend Motorola's Transform the Smartphone hackathons in New York (December) or San Francisco (January), where Moto will provide hands-on assistance. Those who develop a prototype will list it on Indiegogo between Jan. 3 to March 6 in order to drum up support.

Ten finalists will travel to Chicago to meet with and wow Motorola execs. Truly impressive ideas could nab up to $1 million from Lenovo Capital to sell and promote the mod. (Lenovo acquired Motorola Mobility in 2014.)

"We know we can't come up with every Moto Mods idea on our own, and real innovation doesn't just happen behind closed doors," Motorola said in a blog post.

"[We] will be on the lookout for the best working prototypes," the Motorola blog said. "All you need is an idea, the passion to bring it to life, and the financial support to drive a new era of mobile technology forward."

Rival smartphone maker ZTE, meanwhile, recently ended its own crowdsourcing contest, dubbed Project CSX; the grand-prize winner is an eye-tracking, self-adhesive handset, which it will show off at CES.

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Stephanie Mlot

Stephanie Mlot

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