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India's $35 Tablet Computer
NotBornYesterday was one of many readers sending in news that the Indian government has announced it is helping to develop a $35 tablet computer running Linux. "India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011. The government plans to subsidize the tablets so the cost to students could be $20; and eventually, they hope the cost will fall to $10 per unit. India's human resource development minister, Kapil Sibal, says, 'The motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything.' Using a memory card instead of a hard drive, and running a Linux OS, the designers have managed to keep the price low, and are now looking for manufacturing partners. The tablet can be used for functions like word processing, Web browsing, and video conferencing. It has a solar power option too, which is important in India's less developed areas, though that add-on costs extra."
Sign me up for one. Maybe 5.
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome."
Now the only question left is: when does it come to a shop near me?
...but what kind? TFA didn't make any mention of it (or any specs, for that matter). Anyone have any additional info on this thing?
Living With a Nerd
Wonder if Europeans could get one.
Do go to the AP link if you want to "see" it. Funny that they start their story, "It looks like an iPad." The next line should have been, "But I guess you'll never know."
Pics are on the second link here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/07/23/india.thirty.five.dollar.laptop/
No specs at all. How fast is its processor? How much memory? Is it touch enabled? TFA doesn't say.
Free Martian Whores!
I mean just doing a quick scan of the article it makes it sound like it's more for Indians (dot, not feather) and other 3rd worlders. You know, people that can't blow a thousand bucks on a computer. If it helps improve their standard of living more power to them. (Hopefully it gets further than that One Laptop thing.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
I have tried at LEAST 15 different Android tablets and all of them are garbage hardware that is too slow to run even Android 1.5... how are they going to make an even cheaper tablet that will actually have battery life and run a GUI?
$35.00 = 200mhz processor and almost no ram and storage plus B&W screen.
If the biggest electronics makers cant make a $199.00 tablet with a free GUI/OS called android work well, how the hell do they think they can do it in less than 25%?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
but at least my dream of having a stack of "PADDs" piled up on my desk (Star Trek TNG style) may finally come true!
I have the communicator, now for a working tricorder.....
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
India isn't trying to sell you anything. From the article:
Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
The car does exist you pretentious moron!!! it's called the TATA Nano and it's running on the roads!! do a friggin' google search! and there was never a sub-$100 shuttle!! atleast much better than the stupid NASA running losses!!!
You mean the Tata Nano?
I think this is a big deal. Who really believes that outsourcing technology operations to India and China does not have a long-term consequence? With time, India and China will become innovators -- if they have not already. Reportedly, China has already built the world's second-fastest supercomputer, and is fabricating its own chips (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/science/01compute.html).
Imagine, now, young people thoughout the world writing software. What platform would they choose? If I was growing up in India and had an accessible computer for $35, I probably would not want to pay a whole lot more for a Windows computer.
Maybe this tablet does not quite have it right, technologically. But it is a step forward and an indication of intention on the part of the Indian government.
Don't buy it if you don't want to, motherfucker. They're not holding a gun to your ass and forcing you to buy it.
The only reason for a government to be involved in financing development of computers is where it is not profitable for private businesses to do so, i.e it's just another subsidy and probably another national pride project. They might get a better bang for the rupee by spending the same money on subsidizing purchases of existing cheap netbooks and such which are much more powerful than this device could possibly be at that price.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
It has a solar power option too, which is important in India's less developed areas,
I predict that the added cost of the satellite phone link up will be a show stopper.
I can easily believe that they could get the bill of materials cost down to $35, but...
That doesn't mean it costs $35: manufacturing adds a lot. The cheapest mobile phone (which has roughly the same part cost except the screen is VASTLY cheaper) is still $50 unsubsidized.
Test your net with Netalyzr
I bet a lot of Indian kids would be ecstatically happy with Best Buy home theater, as would YOU if you had nothing else.
No sig today...
The way things are going it is only a matter of time before we start to see interactive packaging - and therefore greater penetration by advertisers...
I found myself having fainted for dehydration outside a small village in Uttar Pradesh. I came to but was apparantly delirious, blathering wildly about my deadlines - but it was my gestures which were to change my life from there on. My hands, so used to typing out at the desk, had begun to reanact keystrokes in the same manner as the fellow who plays Mozart's hands dash across the pianoforte keys in Amadeus.
A peasent stumbled across my slumped corpse; he last asked me what I was doing in a business suit in the glaring heat of the northern hemisphere in late June (this was about a month ago) . Fortunately he had water, and was able to drag me in to a nearby village. I apparantly spoke about all sorts of computing stuff. I even confessed I dreamt I left comments on tech sites but woke up of course to find none - sombrely the young man, a mere kid in his 20s, got up and left without even a word.
The man knew what was up; after my delirium had passed and I was coherant - a small, $35 Indian Tablet Computer lay infront of me. 'It is the best thing we can do instead of a keyboard' - said Ranvir, who had taken the exact funds from my wallet in exchange for it in the local tech market close to the Ganges. It was then my capitalist attitude morphed into a centre-left smorgasbord from a simple act of kindness. Of course it didn't make economic sense to rescue my incapicitated husk...it did not square with the Rand stuff I'd worshipped so libertarianistically.
Upon squaring together an Internet connection with mere gaffer tape and a mini-co axial carefully hammered into the 3.5mm audio jack...I was on. The world opened up, and as I sat in that little squalid shack which was my temporary home...blogging became something completely new. The egoistic, day-to-day mundane became the selfless and vivid recollection of events in the village who had granted me honorary citizen status. I got to know what broadband would feel like at 56k speed, but not due to poor latency...but instead economy components. Upon blogging my experience with the good samaritan and the villagers, a commenter posted:
"Hey man you should be like the chieftain or leader or some crap? Lead these folks into a revolutionary tech thing! -- Lance"
It was that night that I near-emptied my bank account buying 200 Tablets at $35 - that's $7000 bucks. I gave a tablet to every villager bar a few spares. It was then I set about making speeches about online rights. Having educated the villagers to open source rights, technology issues, we set about changing the world. Our first stop was a pilgrimage to the Nepalese steppes to sabotage a Dalai Lama press conference for publicity, but as about fifty of us packed up to go I received a call from David in editorial back home - my HTC Android! It was still on!
"Pete? Pete. Hi we need you back here in England as soon as possible there's a few urgents things to cover. Can you fly back tomorrow afternoon?"
A tear had already dropped from my face to the Tablet on the nearby bed. Two villagers had entered and were looking at me intently as I had my conversation in English: "Yeah, yeah I can make it...can you wire some cash over; I had some unexpected expenses and..."
Dave was in a hurry and brusque: "Okay, money will be in your account within a few hours. Be back here Tuesday morning - deadlines to fill and all that. Your computer has been pining for you I swear....later man."
Tablet PCs in India changed my life, and though my plans to become the head of a village failed and the depression built upon leaving...the experience shall never leave me.
I can't be the only one that's tired of hearing about them. And I'm willing to bet that the majority of them will never be in production.
Then again, I'm firmly in the netbook camp, so a tablet wouldn't appeal to me.
You can get a second-hand tablet for how much?
I scored an X41 Tablet for about $150 total, with two worn batteries and a busted up stylus. Not a touch screen, but a tablet. Works fine, but that's not $35. I spend more than that for the recovery disk set. Yes, I am that obsessed.
For even $100, this gives Negroponte's dream a run for the money.
India strives for self-sufficiency. It;s not cheap to them, it's affordable and sustainable.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
When the average annual salary in India is approximately $500US? They would do far better applying their talents to eliminating hunger and poverty amongst their people than applying them to cheap computers.
Sig this!
I think you need to keep yourself better informed.
Firstly, the salary for an IT job in India is somewhere around 15-20% what it is here in the UK - even so, someone on that salary in India is earning a good wage. It therefore makes sense that electronics goods would also be proportionately priced.
Secondly, there is a stronger cultural link between wealth and status in India - a man on a high salary will have have no shortage of potential wives knocking at his door - but they are also less materialistic than us. Therefore, the importance you and I might place on the functionality of a device is perhaps less important to an Indian. So please don't judge everyone else by our standards.
Thirdly, India is not known for exporting high-tech goods to the West, it is a country aimed at providing a cheaper-to-hire English-speaking service industry workforce to the West. And because I detect some sour grapes over outsourcing in the tone of your message, please target your wrath at the rich Western CEOs pocketing the cost differential between hiring staff in the USA or Europe than in India - after all, if somebody offered you a higher paid job than what you're in at the moment, you'd at least consider it even if you didn't take it. So why should anyone in India be any different?
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
If outsourcing has taught me anything, this is going to BSOD unless you follow the step-by-step script that comes with the tablet.
That's a highly novel approach to economics. I wonder if they're even breaking even cost of production. Regardless, someone (the workers) is getting paid well below the minimum wage (if at all :). The provision of subsidies and this particular approach to education by the government is debatable at best in a country where would be much better suited for fixing railways and eliminating poverty.
Someone mod parent up!
Probably underpowered and mostly useless. Kind of like the piece of shit Cisco 851 we sent back last week.
Compare to this which is at $85 in volume without shipping, I'm not sure how it can get the cost down to $10. Some very cheap ARM with integrated flash/ram still cost $10.
Is that some sort of competition with China on who can pay their workers the lowest salary?
This is wonderful. Talk about crashing through the $100 floor. Was nice when desktops smashed through the $1000 floor.
And there's still much waste in PC design. Look at the size of an average notebook versus a typical desktop, There's huge overprovisioning everywhere in the desktop. Computers have been in our faces for so long that we're not only accustomed to them taking substantial space, we practically demand it. Admit it, contemptuous thoughts about slowness, limitations, and compromises flit through our minds whenever we contemplate a PC that doesn't occupy a sizable tower. Someday towers will look as clunky as those 1970s Heathkit calculators that were almost the size of a shoe box and for input had basically the numeric keypad used on keyboards for desktop computers.
Even the typical netbook could be smaller. For instance, if the power consumption could be lowered even further, perhaps by running recent CPUs under 1GHz, then the power supply could be smaller, and maybe cooling fans could be omitted, saving even more space and power, and eliminating the biggest source of noise, and an expensive component. There is still much PC functionality split among many separate chips. I'm guessing these are some of what they're doing to ultimately get down to $10.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
It is not OK to talk about prototypes without providing pictures. Not OK.
If this thing truly costs $35 it's likely not much better than a calculator. Anything more than that and it didn't actually cost $35. Either someone's eating the cost or the government is subsidizing it.
And for this sort of thing it's always smarter and cheaper to go with something off the shelf. The money wasted on the OLPC project would have been better finding an existing cheap computer. Better yet, that money should have been used improving the quality of schools and education. Computers aren't some kind of panacea. Internet access isn't some kind of magical wonder that will provide instant education. It's not going to help at all if you don't know what you're looking for. From my experience the first thing everyone goes for is social networking. You could drop a dead computer in front of a kid and they'll start playing with it instead of paying attention.
India would be better served buying $50-$100 desktops and keeping them locked away in labs at school and used only for computer-specific classes. Computers are awesome tools with a ton of potential when applied correctly. Otherwise they're nothing but a massive and expensive distraction which I'm convinced which I'm far more likely to be a distraction in the classroom.
Is it just me or does that guy look really, really creepy?
http://androidos.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/android-tablet-india-1.jpg
at that price it's resistive touch. if you wanted a palm pilot you can pick one up on ebay for about $20.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
1. Build a prototype mock-up.
2. Hold press conference about a $35 tablet running Linux.
3. Wait for Microsoft to offer $$$ to switch to Windows.
4. Profit
??
I heard the Chevy Nova sold poorly in English-speaking countries because nobody wanted a car named after an exploding star.
Somehow I feel like the computer will be similar to the computer in the south park episode The Day the Internet Stood Still. For those of you who haven't seen it, the men get their porn fix by taking turns looking at a computer that is actually a cardboard box with a guy inside drawing pictures on a piece of paper and holding them up to a cutout in the box.
Where is the Crysis benchmark?
Funny thing is, it will likely have "gnash" installed/enabled as you can really do some education software easily with Flash. Lots of "kids games" too. :)
As there is no "h264" etc. involved, I am sure gnash will have no problem.
Of course, if dinosaur Adobe wakes up and codes the actual Flash platform for it, it would be better. Now that would be some real thing to do against Apple, rather than blog-trolling
Or not. Last year, Indian officials announced a $10 laptop for the masses, which turned out to be much more than $10, and nowhere close to a laptop.
I wouldn't expect much from their "$35 tablet" announced when the OLPC XO-3 tablet is getting some attention.
Who could forget quality control gem?
USB port = keyboard?
If so, I'm buying one.
Why do people see $35 and think it will be crap?
Because you automatically compare it to the iPad without thinking?
The iPad "hardware" probably costs around $35 too. Just because Apple "charges" over $400, that doesn't actually have any correlation with hardware costs.
350USD in any fully capitalistic society- lots of middlemen to pay for shipping, receiving, smog tests, etc.
(Before you complain, yes, I love capitalism. But I am also aware of its limitations.)
I hope this comment is well received... I could have moderated instead!
Persecutors will be violated!
FTA: Mamta Varma, a ministry spokeswoman, said falling hardware costs and intelligent design make the price tag plausible.
Through divine providence, I sadly predict this product will sell well in the United States, especially among the non-technical.
Sorry, I'll believe it when I see it selling for this much and when Engadget publishes a review. Until then it's a figment of their imagination.
It;s not cheap to them, it's affordable and sustainable.
I think you mean imaginary and not-probable.
Nothing against this specific device, but this is another one of those tired stories (much like the XO... and how did that pan out?) about how <entity name> is going to produce this amazing new gadget with <specs> for only <price>. Usually, when the pipe dream hoopla is over and the actual product ships, it turns out that the specs given are wildly overstated and/or the price originally "guestimated" is about 20% of what the device actually winds up costing.
Anyone can build a prototype gadget and pull some production cost numbers out of their hindquarters. What really matters is if those numbers are at all realistic. In this case (again, much like the XO) the numbers (2 GB RAM, 9" display, $35 price) don't seem to add up.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
Just because the Indian government says they can make it for $35 doesn't make it possible. Note that they have not yet built one in volume and are looking for turn-key mfgrs in Taiwan. The ministry of education may have political reasons for making the announcement.
Maybe it will just run on regular (user-supplied) AA cells, whether rechargeable or not. And while we're speculating wildly, the expected running time on regular cells may not be very good...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
From the BBC News article on the topic: "An earlier cheap laptop plan by the same ministry came to nothing."
From my limited experience traveling in India, trying to get a new power adapter for my laptop and being told "Yes, no problem, we'll have it on Tuesday!" only to call on Wenesday and be told "Yes, it's on the way, we'll have it on Monday!" and then never getting said power adapter (this same experience happening more than once), all I can say is I'll believe it when I see it - and I'm not expecting to see it.
www.gaiageek.com
"Again India, they try to produce super cheap stuff nobody real wants."
Never mind their rapidly expanding auto parts industry (for example). :)
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
It sucks that this comment is only allowed to go to +5. I think it should be a "sticky" post at the top of basically every Slashdot story that mentions India.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
because I detect some sour grapes over outsourcing in the tone of your message, please target your wrath at the rich Western CEOs [pocket] the cost differential
First of all, how is THAT *not* sour grapes over outsourcing?
Second of all, you're imagining quite a laughable scenario.
You're assuming that if the differential didn't exist, all other things would nevertheless remain equal.
That the CEOs would otherwise spend the money on the high priced laborers anyway.
That the CEOs would charge the same price for the goods and services their companies produce anyway, though their labor costs are much higher.
That the companies would actually have the money to pay the CEOs an amount that is equal to what the "cost differential" would have been if it had existed.
That the customers would have the money to pay for this company's goods and services at the same volume which would have been possible, had this pricing efficiency in labor existed for all participants in the Western or global economy.
Inefficiency affects everybody. Outsourcing makes the whole pie bigger, not just the CEO's slice.
Say it right: "Nuc-le-ah Powah".
Tablets are less useful than netbooks, but netbooks are all the disadvantages a laptop and a PDA have between each other, wrapped into one device:
From the PDA:
- Small keyboard
- Small screen
- Little processing power / memory
- Limited to non-existent ports/external media options
From the laptop:
- Can't make cellular calls, headset required for VoIP
- Can't fit in your pocket
- Requires lap/desk space for comfortable use
- No touchscreen
- Only a shitty front-facing webcam
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Another UI "revolution" that is happening without Microsoft because, while the shareholders won't stand for it, Microsoft's own accountants are legally obligated to NOT approve the expenditures for it. Talk about getting squeezed between Scylla and Charibdes.
As a technology user, (I'm now out of development or even management,) I'm a bit of an Apple Fanboy, but I also like Linux and would definitely want one.
I wish them all the success in overcoming the scaling obstacles they're going to encounter.
Hooray!
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Simply not feasible, even at fully-marginal cost and with developing-world resource costs. Wake me when they've found a manufacturer who can actually deliver at these unit-prices, then does so in volume without other sweeteners.
What's wrong with resistive touch?
It's more accurate than capacitive touch and has none of the drawbacks. Multi-touch silliness might not be possible, but is that important?
I chose my latest PDA in part because it had resistive rather than capacitive touch.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Karma to the first person to submit a link to where you can actually order one. When do they go on sale?
I didn't say I liked outsourcing & I've lost some good work colleagues as a result of it - but I'm not going to blame it on Indian people who ultimately just want to earn a decent livelihood like the rest of us.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
That episode was called Over Logging:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_Logging
Fun fact: In the episode "You have 0 friends" you can spot Kenny using what is clearly an OLPC in the background (in the very first scene IIRC). I lol'd when I saw that XD
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
1) this is government propaganda - it'll never come to fruition but it gives a worm feeling to it's citizens
2) $35 is cost of major parts - manufacturing, case/packaging, software, batteries are *extra*
3) $35 is based on assumptions on parts cost a year from now
They don't have power (solar option) but they have Internet for web surfing and video conferencing?
Employee Of the Month - Cyberdyne Systems Corporation - September 1997
Here is a link to one of its demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGYHH16XTks
It appears reasonable at a level of a prototype. This dude says that it's available for $30 with $5 overheads. I kind of tend to believe him. It's way far from something like I-Pad. But at this price, if it works, I would call it cute.
Mini2440 is $100 in quantity 50+, comes with Linux / Qtopia, 405 MHz ARM9 with a 3.5" LCD 240x320, 128MB NAND FLASH, Ethernet, USB (could put a thumb drive on here for more space), serial, microphone, headphone out audio, $15 webcam (quantity 50+).
but they are also less materialistic than us
You clearly don't know enough Indians. They are about as materialistic as it gets.
Ogre Wedding Planners llc.
Its basically a Netbook without a keyboard and track-pad attached. And unless there are optimizations to the OS (reduced complexity) then when in tablet mode you're going to be all over that screen - pointing - clicking - dragging - etc.
I'm just saying that tossing a standard desktop OS on a tablets been done many times in the recent past (last decade) and they went nowhere. Cheap HW is great but you've got to have touch optimized OS and apps at a minimum or just go home. A recent lesson is HP dumping Win 7 for their Tablet PC in favor of Web OS by Palm.
Our school is demo'ing some iPads this Summer and I've had one for a few weeks. I have to say that iOS 4.0 is very easy to use and the device makes a helluva reader. Along with my other eval work I'm reading my second 300 page sci-fi novel via iTunes iBook app --- very easy and natural to read and use. Now for sure there are some huge issues with how Apple has handled DRM on the iPad (via the iTunes control / tether) - and totally hiding any trace of the file system - folders - etc. But Apple got a lot right in a fully touch driven device.
Its not the years, its the mileage
What do YOU know about Indians, you wife beating child molesting Pakistani arsewipe! By the way, it was pretty ticklish to see you guys masquerade as Indians after the failed Times Square attack: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64655Y20100507
Funny how you piglets turn up everywhere either to blow things up or troll web forums.
Being an Indian, I will be really proud of myself -- if this really happens. However, last time when they did some stunt like this, it turned out to be a USB stick or something similar.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Rs_500-laptop_display_on_Feb_3/articleshow/4049914.cms
http://www.merinews.com/article/rs-500-laptop-is-not-a-laptop/15709651.shtml
I sincerely hope that this time they won't repeat the same story.
Remember that one?
I will believe it when I can actually buy one. Sorry, but I have seen sooo many article about the $100 dollar android tablet tablet from China, I just have to roll my eyes when I see this. These things seem to either not come out, or when they come out they are poor quality and/or cost way more than the $100-or-less, that was promised.
BTW: India announced a $10 laptop in 2009, amazingly that never materialized.
Despite the introduction of the latest tablet with much fanfare, India doesn't have a history of delivering on its much-hyped promises about electronic devices. For instance, Indian startup Notion Ink has been promising a tablet for months called Adam that is yet to hit the market. In February 2009, Indian government officials announced a $10 laptop that ultimately proved to be vaporware.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/india-35-tablet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+(Wired%3A+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))#ixzz0ubp1sW7f
This is a part of a mission to share videos and lectures from best engineering schools in India(IIT's and IISc) to all other engineering schools in India
see the link below to see the content being shared
http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/
this is the best of engineering education available online
The same is available on youtube in the /iit channel
"India is not known for exporting high-tech goods to the West"
It is known however to announce great breakthrough technologies at very affordable cost ... that turn out being just vaporware.