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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."
...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
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.
Pics are still less than satisfactory. What goes into this design, and what are the catches ? Slow as hell ? No touchscreen ?
Incidentially the second part of the article is (potentially) revealing :
"The aim is to reach such devices to the students of colleges and universities, and to provide these institutions a host of choices of low-cost access devices around Rs 1,500 ($35) or less in near future," the human resources ministry said at the launch of the computer.
Meaning it's not this tablet that's $35, it's just that they're working on devices like that. Could this mean that they don't actually have device schematics for this device at $35 ?
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.
Looking at the articles and pics of it, it does indeed have a colour screen.
And your statement brings out my real question:
If india can make a working tablet for $35 that, while probably underpowered, can do web, email, and wordprocessing,
Why are the big companies cheapest products $200 or more?
Hopefully, after (if) these get rolled out in India, the other manufacturers will start competing a little harder.
Also, if this Indian tablet supports flash, I'll have a nice little chuckle.
"lt;dr" is the correct response to most of my posts.
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.
Rightly said!
This is simply an example of countries trying to develop themselves and their resources. It may be shitty compared to what is available in the developed world, but its a start -- we have all paid through our noses for costly micro-processing power that sometimes are pathetically underutilized doing tasks such as browsing and occasional document composition.
Though I am aware that the original article is sorely lacking details, and it seems more a marketing hype, but even if they manage to do take off with this, it will be marvelous and a little help to millions who at this point cannot even hope to achieve a life with basic necessities, leave alone sitting comfortably ordering a powerful computer.
This is not for Americans, nor should it be expected that the hardware would be any comparable to what is considered minimal in America, but its a start; an attempt to introduce a bit of technology so people who would otherwise have no chance to even aim for a middle-class life are empowered.
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.
Could not agree more. $35 for this would be incredible, at this price point it is even more attractive than simple e-readers. Like any other tablet this is perfect for portable internet browsing. But at this cheap price I would be more comfortable taking it into the kitchen to read recipes or out to the garage to review car repair walkthroughs, those are things I would not do with a $600 iPad.
Though one point I wasn't exactly clear on in the article was the subsidy that India would provide to students purchasing this. I wonder if their claimed $35 cost already includes a hypothetical subsidy.
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.
according to the article the indian government plans to subsidise it so the cost for students would be $20
The main reason we don't get things that cheap over here is:
We can afford to pay more.
It is entierly possible that India can get the components a bit cheaper than we would,
alot of computer components have a fairly high profit margin and the big costs are up front (building the factories and equipment needed to produce them) , if a manufacturer has spare capacity they might benefit by selling the excess cheaper to the Indian government rather than trying to raise demand by lowering prices overall.
This is not for Americans, nor should it be expected that the hardware would be any comparable to what is considered minimal in America, but its a start; an attempt to introduce a bit of technology so people who would otherwise have no chance to even aim for a middle-class life are empowered.
It should be. I have customers running my software at their office for whom this would be an ideal system for their employees to use in the field. It doesn't have to be a high-powered computer. It just has to be powerful enough to run a field version of my software, and have functioning wireless or an Ethernet port (either will work).
If the unsubsidized price is low enough, this would have great small business marketability in the U.S.
This is not for Americans
Well, it will be. once someone's gathered the venture capital finance to acquire a company set up specifically to purchase, import, sell for $200, and (most important) squirrel the profits away in a tax-efficient, highly-leveraged off-shore subsidiary.
Isn't that the American Way?
Much like the super cheap car, once it comes to 1st world countries like the U.S. all of the pesky requirements like product safety will add a 300%+ premium to it. You may appreciate not absorbing your daily dose of lead or radiation, or having the possibility of the whole thing exploding, but if those things don't bother you, probably worth importing them yourself!
Now the only question left is: when does it come to a shop near me?
it won't.
Making the best product for the least amount of money is not the main driver when designing hi-tech gadgets anymore.
Keeping control and profit maximizing market segmentation are.
So this thing will either suck, or it will be artificially made useless for us rich westerners somehow.