India develops a $35 laptop

[Charles]

India develops world's cheapest "laptop" at $35

NEW DELHI — India has come up with the world's cheapest "laptop," a touch-screen computing device that costs $35.

India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal this week unveiled the low-cost computing device that is designed for students, saying his department had started talks with global manufacturers to start mass production.

"We have reached a (developmental) stage that today, the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything," he told a news conference.

He said the touchscreen gadget was packed with Internet browsers, PDF reader and video conferencing facilities but its hardware was created with sufficient flexibility to incorporate new components according to user requirement.

Sibal said the Linux based computing device was expected to be introduced to higher education institutions from 2011 but the aim was to drop the price further to $20 and ultimately to $10.

The device was developed by research teams at India's premier technological institutes, the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.

India spends about three percent of its annual budget on school education and has improved its literacy rates to over 64 percent of its 1.2 billion population but studies have shown many students can barely read or write and most state-run schools have inadequate facilities.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38375194/ns ... ?GT1=43001

[jeffnevins]

Interesting- maybe a sign of things to come on the general market.

[skynet]

One of these days all the current computers, laptops you see today will probably be super cheap. Most people will have access to the bottom level technology. Basic laptops will cost very little at some point because they will be almost worthless.

Then it's the latest super high-tech stuff that is only available to the people with lots of cash to spare or the government... Same as it has always been. The high-end technology is already here. It always has been. We just don't ever see it because it's too "expensive" for the public.

Imagine what kind of crazy computers a billionaire or someone like Bill Gates probably has sitting around in multiple places on their desks. I don't think it's anything like what you'd see in any normal household.

When it come to serious technology, the public has always been living way in the past.

[Charles]

To me, access to even the lowest rung of technology is still amazing. I appreciate that the cost of powerful technology continues to drop, and as the upper end of the cost factor continues to develop. That power will eventually become affordable as well since it slides down the ladder, empowering individuals and groups.