Indian Company Shows Off Sub-$200 Laptop

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 11, 2005 @01:51AM from the progress-toward-the-negroponte-device dept.

geo_2677 writes "The Indian company which came out with the Simputer has now come with a PC which cost roughly INR 10,000; that's just about US $200. The project was backed by the Indian government R&D department Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)." Geo2677 points out an article on the low-cost computer at hinduonline.net and another at the Times of India, and writes "The new PC is Linux-based and has office applications, a browser and audio/video capabilities. With a keyboard that can be rolled up, it looks pretty sleek. A U.S. company is already using it in pilot projects, and many more have shown interest. The Indian government hopes that this will push the PC revolution to the masses. It aimed for home users and small businesses/shops. The PC penetration in India is very low, at a measly 13 million, due to the high costs involved."

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Tandy 100 reborn? by stm2 · 2005-05-11 01:58 · Score: 4, Interesting

Looks a lot like the Tandy 100. I still have one, last time I used was 4 years ago to take some notes abord a ship. Even if have more than 20 years, is still useful. I think this "notebooks" is conceptually based in that machine :)

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Free, for only $24.95 month by gelfling · 2005-05-11 02:03 · Score: 5, Interesting

Can you imagine the American version of this? There would be two versions; free + 24.95/month for internet service or the Premium version $400 + 99.95 month including phone, iTunes and a hundred other things you don't need.

India will eat our lunch because they stay focused on the goal instead of stupid glittery Paris Hilton tech like we do.