Microsoft OS Smart Phone for Developing Nations

YesSir writes "The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft CTO Craig J. Mundie and Bill Gates are talking about the idea of a specially designed cellphone that could be converted into a full-fledged computer through a connection to a TV and keyboard. They hope to use this product to bring computing to the masses in developing nations and be a Windows powerd alternative to Nicholas Negroponte's $100 free open-source powerd laptop."

Comments

A Microsoft sticker on every hut!

[Elvon Prezton]

Jesus, Bill, leave the poor third world alone. You can't squeeze blood from a turnip, you know. But an Ethiopian! You can sure squeeze blood from them. So have at it, if you must. *sigh*

Re:A Microsoft sticker on every hut!

[IndigoZenith]

You obviously aren't a student of the Rules of Aquisition...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_Acquisition

Bill's throwing his toys out of the pram

[99luftballon]

Here's a great example of the closeminded view seen at Microsoft so often. He can't get his mind about the concept that to make a developing nation customer pay for their operating system, or for the software needed to use it, is a tad obscene when there's a free or nearly free alternative.

Crippling the hardware to make up for this software royalty (ever try producing a large document on a mobile phone screen?) isn't the answer. I'm not sure Negroponte has it right either - low cost PC boxes and CRT monitors that are unsellable in the West are going to be a cheaper alternative in the short term .

Re:Bill's throwing his toys out of the pram

[mwvdlee]

The $100 laptop is powered by a crank (amongst other options) because there isn't always a power outlet available in third world countries.

How would you do this for a plain PC box and CRT monitor?

Too Certain!

[16K Ram Pack]

are talking about the idea of a specially designed cellphone that could be converted into a full-fledged computer?

Hey, be careful of overpromising, Bill.

Re:Too Certain!

[arivanov]

Seconded.

Cellular protocol stacks are expensive. The intellectual property rights for the essential bits of a phone which make it a phone are around 30$.

This leaves less then 70$ for the rest. While it may be possible in a few years this is highly unlikely with today's technology. The 100$ laptop which IMO is also too far fetched is much more likely to be successful.

Re:proves the old argument

[poeidon1]

But this cellphone is supposed to work as a PC and this PC is not a yesterday PC. If it is, then probably its better to sell an used machine for 100$ (should be aplenty, my office alone donates 30 machine every year) to the poor instead of wasting that on a useless machine.

Convergence

[Council]

Continuing with the idea that cell phones, PDAs, and eventually laptops are going to merge. When you've got enough power in a wallet-sized device to do all your email, messaging, web browsing, and music playing, it'll just be a matter of snapping in different peripherals.

I'm shopping for a laptop right now, and what I really want is something small. I don't need a whole lot of power, I just need something I can slip in a handbag or backpack pocket (maybe a Fujitsu Lifebook P-series). With Verizon wireless broadband it could sit in my backpack/briefcase and, via skype, serve as a cell phone. It'd also be my PDA.

There are a lot of different approaches to reaching that convergence, and it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Phone with a keyboard vs Speccy?

[jetxee]

A small computer costs more than a big computer (more engineering challenges). So, Microsoft Phone with a keyboard jack will be either too expensive for developing contries, or will offer worse value/price when compared with really simple computers.

Yet, state of the art phones are really comparable with the home computers of 80s. But if those computers were sufficient for masses, then they would win the game with a better price of $5 or so :)

A poor replacement for poor

[poeidon1]

Its easier to donate them old machines, available aplenty, rather then selling some crappy phone. It requires a screen and a keyboard, when did these become portable without integration as in a laptop.

Re:A poor replacement for poor

[mwvdlee]

You're going to donate them magic power cords for their non-existent power outlets too?

Makes sense - doesn't it?

[cyberjessy]

Looking forward, this does make business sense.

1. General purpose computing is not processor intensive (especially when you combine it with ASP style internet apps). We could fit it into a phone, easily.
2. This could drive more powerful and efficient processors for smaller devices. $100 is not improbable in a short time.
3. Cell phone penetration is good in developing world too (India/China). Its good to have a device with other uses too.
4. MS might have Windows Live! in mind. Ultimately this might be available world-wide, along with free subscription of Windows Live.

Overall, here is an interesting strategy:
1. Home Entertainment+ = XBox 360
2. Value+ = , Pocket PC, Windows CE
3. Servers = Windows on x64, IA64
4. Desktops and Laptops - Windows Vista
The interesting this is, there is very little overlap between the target markets here. And they have got all the bases covered.

Re:Makes sense - doesn't it?

[tpgp]

Looking forward, this does make business sense.

Nope - this makes virtually no sense at all.

Remember we're talking about 3rd world applications here - and you're talking about pushing all the processing to the other end of a network. Many third world countries have good cell phone penetration, but not so high (and so cheap) that you'd want to rely on using it 24/7 for everything

In addition, MS says

specially configured cellular phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard. [emphasis mine]

Uh-huh. Thanks Bill. My eyes hurt just thinking about it.

Anyone who's ever used a TV as a monitor know they're virtually impossible to read for long periods of time. Look at the way Media Centre type applications have to use huge, high contrast text.

This is just MS trying to shoot down the competition, with any sort of idea they can, whilst they scramble to think of some other way of squashing it.

So, in summary, no - it makes no sense, its a much better idea to incorporate a cell phone into a light weight laptop then vice versa.

Re:Makes sense - doesn't it?

[poot_rootbeer]

Anyone who's ever used a TV as a monitor know they're virtually impossible to read for long periods of time.

Not if you have an HDTV, they're not. A 720- or 1080-line HD display should provide at least as much sharpness and legibility as a modern PC monitor.

So all we have to do is wait for adoption of High-Definition Television in the third world, and then... oh...

Microsoft isn't stupid

[quokkapox]

Cellphones are more ubiquitous than PCs in Africa; they're already networked and Microsoft feels obligated to offer a realistic alternative to the $100 laptop which with ad-hoc mesh networking could make their entire closed-source software platform irrelevant to this part of the developing world.

If Microsoft cannot get their tentacles embedded in order to extract a tax on every electronic device legally sold in Africa, that's a serious setback. When Vista bombs later this year and alternative platforms and free software continue to take off everywhere, and Google keeps bleeding them with more papercuts, MSFT stock is going to tank.

Power?

[a_greer2005]

Dont those in the third world need reliable power and healthcare before they worry about setting up a TV and cell phone to check their email?

Re:Power?

[albalbo]

Many places in the "first world" don't have reliable healthcare.

Re:Power?

[sliz3]

As a /.er who happens to be African (and live in Africa), posts like this really annoy me. What's with the stereotyping? I agree that there are areas that are in dire need of such ameneties, but that does not necessarily mean that there is no need for IT, and access to Information. Systems such as these would enable a large majority of children to grow up with access to IT and information. I feel that is far more important than power at home, for example, especially if u've lived ur whole life without it.

I seem to recall some pilot project carried out somewhere in East Africa, where children were issued with iPAQs as part of their curriculum, and it worked very well http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/01/ 0051206&from=rss

I think the $100 computer idea is a good idea. I'm not sure about this MS stunt though, not beacuse there's something better to be "done"/"given" to the third world but because AFAIK, smartphones cost in excess of $100 everywhere (especially Windows-based).

mmmmm Spam...

[IndigoZenith]

Something tells me my Email inbox is going to Skyrocket when this baby is released.

There are thousands of rich Princes and Dignitaries in the Third world that need US bank accounts to transfer their 40 million into, I just hope I am one of the lucky ones to get their email!!

why?

[rakshat]

What in the world will the poor people do with all the cellphone and $100 computers. How about giving them medical equipment, building schools and homes first and then giving them computers!

Who needs those $100 tablets?

[subreality]

Thanks, MS, for providing a nice refreshing dose of vaporware to make sure any competitor trying to do something innovative gets crushed.

Shameless

[Essef]

Just what we need.. :

      - Primary school kids in developing countries with cellphone bills to pay
      - Pay a tax to MS instead of using that money to buy RAM/CPU etc.
      - Take a great idea and through some FUD slow down adoption (governments are
          primary takers on $100 laptop. This sort of FUD might sow enough
          doubt to make those governments think twice)

When developing countries start to roll out cheap WiMax, VOIP will become the primary communications medium in developing countries. Cellular technology is on it's last legs.

AFAIAC this is just shameless on MS's part.

Price?

[kappa]

Most current smartphones are way more expensive than basic PCs and perform an order of magnitude worse. They become cheaper but the process is even faster for PCs. And what's more, smartphones lack the most expensive part -- usable display!

Re:proves the old argument

[kfg]

Assuming the used machine runs on batteries powered by solar cells, pedals, small windmill, crank, etc.

You people need to get out of the city more. It would save me lot of time pointing out that in much of the world there simply no place to plug in a computer; and much of that world is exactly where this idea is targeted.

Infrastructure is not ubiquitous.

KFG

They are late

[protomala]

Here in Brazil today it's hard to find young people who don't have a cellphone. There are some problems like closed and no standard and shared SMS system (you can't send SMS in MSN/ICQ because of that), slow GPRS, very small market for applications.. but still there are a huge market for mobiles, cards (most people here use pre-paid system with cards that star from R$ 20 - kind of 8 U$, it's cheaper than having to pay every month, you have 2 months to use a card), download of tunes/music, etc. Current numbers talk about more than 80 millions of people with cellphones, from a total popullation of (aprox) 185 million. And microsoft is basically out of this market, nokia is the big player with symbian, and other like motorola and siemens follow. This is computing for the masses, a simpler, cleaner one sure, but you can have email, use WAP or opera mini to read slashdot. Now if they could get better prices for GPRS (it's R$5 for each MB), once more powerfull phones, like the ones running linux, arrive, people could tell goodbye for their big computers and phone lines.

They've already merged...

[Colin Smith]

http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,85235,00.html
http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,57363,00.html

No snapping required. Oh... And *handbag* what're you like some kind of a girl?

unsellable in the West != cheap

[Alwin Henseler]

"(..) low cost PC boxes and CRT monitors that are unsellable in the West are going to be a cheaper alternative in the short term."

That is probably a common misconception. Old/surplus PC's may be obtained virtually free in the West. But to use them in Africa, you'd have to refurbish them (used, or stuff that wasn't sold because there's some problem with it). Then transport across the globe: big, heavy boxes = expensive. Then operate: consuming lots of (unreliable) power, and dying like the flies (old + environmental conditions). Add these factors together, and it's not cheap at all. Maybe that's why a large percentage of refurbished PC's shipped to Africa, turn out to be useless and wind up in a landfill (possibly intentional)?

Wasn't that the whole point of a $100 laptop? Designed for the purpose, small (=cheap to transport), new (=not breaking down right away), and working even without reliable power.

Looks Purely Reactive -- but So What

[putko]

I see a lot of people remarking that this is some sort of me-too, reactive stuff.

Well, I guess it is -- but you should get used to that. Microsoft's strength is that it is a great follower, not an innovator.

They let the innovator (e.g. Negroponte) risk stuff, then they follow on, crushing competition due to their size and resources. They've done this with DOS/Windows/Word/Excel/Access and so on. Every product was a follower.

They wait until they see someone else kicking ass with a product -- then they do their version, and slowly and gently, they push, push push their competitor out of the market. [Sort of the way the Han Chinese are moving into and dominating Xinjiang and Tibet - no massacres, just push, push push].

Every thirdworld guy wants a phone. Even before you have a reliable source of electricity, you need your cellphone, if only to find out about crop prices. Clearly the phone is THE growth platform of the future.

So if the get their stuff in the phone, they've got a few billion customers using windows -- and their company's future is secured.

Someone at Microsoft probably thought of this before, but it probably only got approval from Billy recently.

Been there, done that

[hey!]

have the pissed off customer to prove it.

I used a treo 600 for over a year. It was remarkably good as a converged device. However if I learned anything, I learned that having a good phone is so important it trumps everything else. It'd be fine if I spent all my time in the city, but I was freqently out of range.

I switched to an LG tri-mode phone with bluetooth, on the theory that I'd get at least an analog signal in places I used to have no coverage at all, and, guess what: I get perfectly good digital connectivity in places I had no bars before. The phone's memory is so small the web browser is useless, but using it as a bluetooth modem from a PDA works fine. The main problem is that only one device can use the BT modem at a time, and if I use it from windows the windows BT stack is so buggy it refuses to let go; I have to shut the BT radio off.

I'm not against convergence per se. It's just that converged devices as they now stand do not perform well enough in their comm roles, which is the linchpin for the whole concept. The best of the devices are mediocre PDAs, which is good enough for most of us.

For a converged device to work,it has to have two things: (1) NO phone trade-offs at all and (2) strong device connectivity to make up for UI tradeoffs. What makes a good phone and a what makesa good PDA or video viewer are all different things. While you may want to watch TV on your phone, you're also going to want to pipe the video to a TV (can anybody in the industry not be watching what iPods are doing these days?).

Once you have interdevice connectivity up to snuff, what you have is neither strictly a communication device nor strictly a converged device. It's a device that can work equally well in either role, as a network interface or a user interface.

Microsoft misses the concept by a mile

[dyfet]

I believe the idea of the $100 laptop was principally for school children and to support education. While it may be true that it can be made possible for one to hook up a cell phone to a tv and keyboard appliance and maybe get some very limited computing in the home or hut, nobody is going to drag their TV into the classroom! That is precisely why Negroponte chose to develop a $100 laptop, and not a $100 desktop, or $100 dockable phone.

Closed phones v. Closed OS

[drouse]

I know everyone loves to hate on Microsoft's closed operating system, but the closed nature of cell phones and their networks is worse. What would the Internet be like if you could only use approved applications built into the computer on it? What if every email was $0.10?

This might be a subversive way for MS to open up cell phones into more general purpose devices with more third party applications.

If so, that would be interesting, and sad that they couldn't do that here.

To look at it the other way -- is there a Linux powered phone that you can VNC into and write applications for (including programably accessing the phone, bluetooth and cell-based network connection)?

That also would be interesting, although I'm sure it would be anathema to folks like Verison -- they want phones to be more like game consoles and less like general purpose computers. You can't even backup your paid-for ring tones? Even Apple treats you better.

Hi-Tech and 3rd World issues

[MaksimS]

I'm afraid that many people living in the land of plenty (Mr. Gates included) do not fully understand what's going on in undeveloped parts of the world. There's rather strange general opinion that the only difference between developed and underdeveloped (or poor) societies lies in the fact that developed ones use high technology while others don't. There're also tons of studies published on that, only few of them getting close to explain what's causing that difference. In my personal experience it's a) organization and b) education. The truth is, laptops and cell phones (hi-tech in general) represent only side effects of a modern society. They do not either help develop, nor modernize, undeveloped one.

Clippy Says

[HangingChad]

It looks like you're a poor person in a developing nation. Would you like to:

- Compose Nigerian banking spam?

- Appeal to the UN for aid?

- Let your country be used for a terrorist training center?

- Sell your goat on eBay?

Re:proves the old argument

[CastrTroy]

Also, I don't see them producing these PC capable phones for anywhere near $100. Sure you can get a free phone, but that's only due to subsidies from signing a contract. Most phones cost over $150. Now start looking a the phones that can run actual applications like word processors and spreadsheets, along with a real browser, and your looking at around $500. If they can truly make laptops for $100, I think that's the best route to go. I wouldn't assume most people in need of theses computers have TVs anyway to hook up the cell phone to. At least not ones where the resolution would be good enough to get any real work done. Plus, now the family needs 2 tvs if both kids want to use their computers. I think an all in one unit like the laptop being offered is the only way it's going to work out, if it's going to work out at all.

Re:proves the old argument

[grcumb]

"Assuming the used machine runs on batteries powered by solar cells, pedals, small windmill, crank, etc."

In fairness, this idea does seem to have a high-powered crank driving it. 8^)