India Unveils Prototype for $35 Touch-Screen Computer (i-Pad Like)

BBC ^ | 23 July 2010

[nickcarraway]

The Indian government has unveiled the prototype of an iPad-like touch-screen laptop, with a price tag of $35 (£23), which it hopes to roll out next year.

Aimed at students, the tablet supports web browsing, video conferencing and word processing, say developers.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said a manufacturer was being sought for the gadget, which was developed by India's top IT colleges.

An earlier cheap laptop plan by the same ministry came to nothing.

The device unveiled on Thursday has no hard disk, using a memory card instead, like a mobile phone, and can run on solar power, according to reports.

'Manufacturer interest'

It would cost a fraction of the price of California-based technology giant Apple's hugely popular iPad, which retails from $499.

Mr Sibal said the Indian tablet, said to run the Linux operating system, was expected to be introduced to higher education institutions next year.

The plan was to drop the price eventually to $20 and ultimately to $10, he added.

Unveiling the gadget, the human resource development minister told the Economic Times newspaper it was India's answer to the "$100 laptops" developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

"The solutions for tomorrow will emerge from India," Mr Sibal said, reports news agency AFP.

Last year, one of the ministry's officials announced it was about to unveil a $10 laptop, triggering worldwide media interest.

But there was disappointment after the "Sakshat" turned out to be a prototype of a handheld device, with an unspecified price tag, that never materialised.

To develop its latest gadget, the ministry said it had turned to the elite Indian Institute of Technology, and the Indian Institute of Science, after a lacklustre response from the private sector.

Mamta Varma, a ministry spokeswoman, said the device was feasible because

[nickcarraway]

[Noumenon]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks nick!

Low Cost Computing (funniest FR geek joke ever)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1493781/posts?page=9#9

[Swordmaker]

is this a competitor for the iPad? PING!

Please, No Flame Wars allowed!
Discuss hardware.
Don't attack people!

non-Apple Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[martin_fierro]

[ShadowAce]

[TXnMA]

Looks like a big Newton with reflective display (no backlighting). If that's the case, It is good that it is solar (light) powered, because you have to have external light to see it. Actually, it looks a lot like my Newton eMate (touchscreen)-- and keeping that screen tweaked for contrast and visibility is a challenge.

Hey -- I was glad to get my PowerBook 160 -- which has a similar-looking monochromatic screen,

and I expect folks who've never had a computer will be overoyed to get their hands on this one...

~~~~~~~~~~

But, it is decades and light-years from being an iPad -- or any sort of competitor...

[TXnMA]

overjoyed...

[itsahoot]

Some one gets what the iPad is for, flame away but this is beginning to look like a real game changer. Over a Billion people in India, 65% literacy and they are putting a wireless network together that will give everyone access to information.

While we here are putting in place some unknown faces that will eventually limit our access to information.

Let the revolution begin.

[vox_freedom]

LOLOL
The grey screen of death?