Indian Designed Cheap Laptop

[dalsingh101]

India takes on the iPad with £23 touchscreen tablet for students

By Erika Kinetz in Mumbai

Indian minister Kapil Sibal unveils the computer tablet in Delhi

It looks like an iPad, only it's 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a £23 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.

If the government can find a manufacturer, the Linux operating system-based computer would be the latest in a string of "world's cheapest" innovations to hit the market out of India, which is home to the 100,000 rupee (£1,380) compact Nano car and the 749 rupee water purifier.

The tablet can be used for word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing. It has a solar power option too – important for India's energy-starved hinterlands – though that will cost extra. "This is our answer to MIT's $100 [£65] computer," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told The Economic Times when he unveiled the device yesterday.

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In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte – co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab – unveiled a prototype of a £65 laptop for children in the developing world. India rejected that as too expensive and embarked on an effort to develop a cheaper option of its own.

Mr Negroponte's laptop ended up costing about £130, but in May his nonprofit association, One Laptop Per Child, said it plans to launch a basic tablet computer for £64.

Mr Sibal turned to students and professors at India's elite technical universities to develop the £23 tablet after receiving a "lukewarm" response from private sector players. He hopes to get the cost down to £6.50 eventually.

Mamta Varma, a ministry spokeswoman, said falling hardware costs and intelligent design make the price tag plausible. The tablet does not have a hard disk, but instead uses a memory card, much like a mobile phone. The tablet design cuts hardware costs, and the use of open-source software also adds to savings, she said. Ms Varma said several global manufacturers, including at least one from Taiwan, have shown interest in making the low-cost device, but no manufacturing or distribution deals have been finalised. She declined to name any of the companies.

India plans to subsidise the cost of the tablet for its students, bringing the purchase price down to about £13.

"Depending on the quality of material they are using, certainly it's plausible," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research. "The question is, is it good enough for students?"

The project is part of an ambitious education technology initiative by the Indian government, which also aims to bring broadband connectivity to India's 25,000 colleges and 504 universities and make study materials available online.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-takes-on-the-ipad-with-16323-touchscreen-tablet-for-students-2034075.html?action=Popup

[Guest]

I am so getting one of those...just awesome.

[dalsingh101]

Touch screen as well!

I'd get it just to draw - like a mini portable tablet!

[Parchand]

the parts arent reliable, we are talking the same country that puts chalk into capsules and sells us fake medicines.

what happens if it had a glitch?

Good luck getting a refund off indians

indian government arent known for fulfilling guarantees..

then again..

at £23 you could buy 10 and have change for a laptop. or buy a car for the cost of 2/3 ipads LoL

its a good move for india to take on the west on cost price as it shows what the country is capable of. if they seriously did spread technology to the average man it'd be amazing

[dalsingh101]

Think about it.....

Not only the money from the sales, but also the tech support. Which is where the real money is usually made with such technology. Plus application development.

It is a step in the right direction for a country full of backwards, half starved people. Truth is, we've known for years (well I have) that Indians can produce high level techies or developers that often leave goray in the shade. Maybe this is the first step of the country coming into it's own, instead of being perpetual cheap 'coolies' and 'sepoys' for hire in the west?

[Parchand]

true, in next two decades india is going to skyrocket in these fields.

whether this prosperity filters down to everyone is another question. there is increasing marginalisation of rich and poor and wealth seems to be coming at the detriment of everything else.

maybe i'm just a bit old-school but when i visit india it seems like its becoming a stark example of capitalism with everything on tap for a rupee.

[PAL 07]

its just a cheap ploy, to make a fast buck, just like the TATA car.....

but just look at how our Singh's are getting so excited about it all...

end of the day i tell you one thing this product is the result of

Kala Jug (technology age) but recognise that human as dead who has no bairaag for Vaheguru.

[kdsingh80]

I hope this laptop reaches to general public unlike other inventions which Govt shows and after some time they just vanishes

-------------

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jul/26/slide-show-1-tech-why-indias-30-dollar-laptop-joke-is-not-funny-anymore.htm#contentTop

The Rs 10,000-personal computer. . . The Simputer. . . The $100 MIT laptop. . . NetPCs from a host of companies. . . India's so-called $10 laptop. . . How many flops and failures will it take to convince governments (and brave but misled companies) to get these facts of tech, products, and life?

Edited July 26, 2010 by kdsingh80

[tonyhp32]

It's a publicity stunt. How can you calculate that a product can be a certain without having had a manufacturer number crunch the figures. The £23 price is probably based on a sale of 100 million or something and taking into account enconomy of scale. I seriously doubt we will see the product in the shops in the west let alone in India. The government would be better advised to provide clean water and 24 electricity to all it's citizens rather that coming up with cheap publicity stunts which like the others will be quietly ditched.

[dalsingh101]

^^^

You're probably right. But the fact that people from India rank amongst the the top techies in the west isn't something that people should gloss over. With the right support and environment they nail the techie stuff. So the ability is there already. It's just a shame that India is incapable of utilising the same talent at home, instead of being 'brain-drained' so regularly.

I guess the ingrained nepotism and inward looking that has characterised Indians since time immemorial (look up what Alberuni has to say about them, nothing changes!) will only ever result in pishaab poor government. There seems to be an ABSOLUTE nonexistence of the concept of meritocracy within Indic thought. The deeply ingrained 'vibes' of Manu smitri just keep-a-rocking! Our lot are just as bad if not worse themselves now.

[kdsingh80]

You're probably right. But the fact that people from India rank amongst the the top techies in the west isn't something that people should gloss over. With the right support and environment they nail the techie stuff. So the ability is there already. It's just a shame that India is incapable of utilising the same talent at home, instead of being 'brain-drained' so regularly.

I don't get your point here.It is because of techies

,majority of world's software firms have offices in India.India is already a Giant in software business.so techies are fully utilised in India.

As far as this laptop is concerned it is hardware manufactoring and here India has serious problem because all of the hardware business is with China.

here India is seriously lagging behind

[dalsingh101]

I don't get your point here.It is because of techies

,majority of world's software firms have offices in India.India is already a Giant in software business.so techies are fully utilised in India.

As far as this laptop is concerned it is hardware manufactoring and here India has serious problem because all of the hardware business is with China.

here India is seriously lagging behind

It's my fault being out of touch. When I first worked in the industry they were only starting to outsource to India. I guess things have gone on a long way since. I just didn't notice. lol

India isn't too good with manufacturing complicated technological stuff. Mind you, what I saw in Ludhiana with regard to heavy manufacture wasn't too bad.