India to follow $2,000 car with $20 laptop
By James Lamont in New Delhi
Published: February 1 2009 19:32 | Last updated: February 1 2009
19:32
India is planning to produce a laptop computer for the knockdown
price of about $20 (€16, £14), having come up with the Tata
Nano, the world’s cheapest car at about $2,000.
The project, backed by New Delhi, would considerably undercut the
so-called “$100 laptop”, otherwise known as the Children’s
Machine or XO, that was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology of the US.
The Children’s Machine, which received a cool reception in India,
is the centrepiece of the One Laptop Per Child charity initiative
launched by Nicholas Negroponte, the computer scientist and former
director of MIT’s Media Lab. Intel launched a similar product,
called Classmate, in response.
India’s $20 laptop would also undercut the EeePC, made by
Taiwan’s Asustek. The EeePC was the first ultra-cheap,
scaled-down laptop (a new category known as a netbook) launched
worldwide through commercial channels. It does not have a hard
drive and sells for $200-$400.
India’s “Sakshat” laptop is intended to boost distance learning
to help India fulfil its overwhelming educational needs. It forms
part of a broader plan to improve e-learning at more than 18,000
colleges and 400 universities. However, some analysts are
sceptical that a $20 laptop would be commercially sustainable and
the project has yet to attract a commercial partner.
A prototype will go on show at a National Mission on Education
launch in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, tomorrow. Pioneered in India
by scientists at the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian
Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of
Technology in Madras and at the state-controlled Semiconductor
Complex, the laptop has 2Gb Ram capacity and wireless
connectivity.
R.P.?Agrawal, secretary of secondary and higher education, said
last week that the cost of the laptop was about $20 a unit, but he
expected that to fall. He also said he expected the units to be
commercially available in six months.
India faces the huge challenge of finding ways to equip its large
population, more than 550m of whom are under the age of 25, with
contemporary skills. It needs to sustain high economic growth and
spread development across the country.
During the next six years, by some estimates, India will need to
create another 1,500 universities. Educational institutions in the
UK and US are lining up to become partners to help with this huge
projected tertiary-level expansion.
Pressure is building on the government to permit foreign
investment into the sector and use public-private partnerships to
meet some of the demand. Leading universities across the world,
such as Kellogg School of Management in the US and Imperial
College in the UK, are exploring different models, including
faculty partnerships, distance learning and setting up campuses.
But the government appears to favour turning to technology ahead
of international partnerships to bring people into higher
education.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ecf1eae2-f092-11dd-972c-0000779fd2ac.html
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