Promised $20 tablet/laptop to be delivered to students this month

[Veeru]

Promised $20 tablet/laptop to be delivered to students this month

NEW DELHI: Six years after it was conceived, the first lot of 10,000 tablets/laptops – the HRD ministry calls it low-cost access-cum-computing device — would be delivered to IIT-Rajasthan in late June, and over the next four months 90,000 more would be made available at Rs 2,200 apiece.

The announcement was made on Wednesday at the state education ministers' conference. Ministry officials said once the supply of one lakh devices is made, each state would be given 3,000 pieces.

The Centre would subsidize 50% of the cost. Effectively, a student would have to pay Rs 1,100 for the gadget.

Officials said manufacturing of one lakh laptops has been done in India.

As for the cost escalation from the earlier promised price of Rs 1,500, officials said it is due to increase in input cost. "But once more orders are placed, the price would be renegotiated and brought down to Rs 1, 500," an official said. IIT-Rajasthan is the nodal institute for conceiving and monitoring the progress of manufacturing of these gadgets.

The delay in rolling out the laptops, officials explained, took place as the first company, which was given the contract to manufacture one lakh pieces, was bought over. "Now, we've built enough safeguards in the contract with new manufacturer," the official said.

The low-cost device has a seven-inch touch screen, two USB ports, battery that runs for three hours, external hard drive or solid state memory support up to 32 GB.

The device would have Word, Excel, power point, PDF, Open office, web browser with javascript support, zip/unzip facility, video streaming, flash video and many other software applications. It can operate in extreme conditions, officials said, adding that IIT-Rajasthan is putting the samples through further tests.

Low-cost laptops set to roll out after 6 years - The Times of India



1.) The raising input costs and inflation have raised it cost but it is still there for students.

2.) Further costs will be come down after the bulk orders.

Many pakistanis and chinese were curious what happen to this project i think they will get their answer, In India it takes time but we are developing rapidly and fast realizing our dreams into reality.


NDTV Gadget Guru exclusive review

http://www.youtube.com/embed/tdGowVXNeiQ

 

[Firemaster]

nice to hear it Veeru bro
BTW what is the %age of indigenous components?

 

[SR 71 Blackbird]

Great news.

 

[Firemaster]

it can beat many tablet pc's of great companies

 

[Veeru]

nice to hear it Veeru bro
BTW what is the %age of indigenous components?

Can't comment on the actual % but as the officials were saying that to reduce the cost (as they have got initial order for 100,000 tablet/laptop only) they will take their design to Taiwan to get many parts manufactured as per their designs and requirements.

But, after big order they will do it completely in India. And to add to that currently we don't have foundry so not 100% made in India. Even biggest western MNCs manufactures their products in cheaper locations for cutting costs.

But it is designed + many parts made in India for Indian students.

 

[Firemaster]

and which processor it is using???

 

[Veeru]

it can beat many tablet pc's of great companies

Bro, its targeted for different audience so there is no comparison.

Its to provide computer facilities to the students from rural or low income groups.

It will revolutionize the education and fire the imagination of the young students.

In the end Students and finally India will be benefiting from it.

 

[Firemaster]

but bro please post its specifications including CPU and GPU(if any GPU)??

 

[darkhero]

but bro please post its specifications including CPU and GPU(if any GPU)??

So you actually don't know anything about it, and you think it can beat "many tablet pc's of great companies ".

BTW, you asked too much.

 

[Firemaster]

So you actually don't know anything about it, and you think it can beat "many tablet pc's of great companies ".

BTW, you asked too much.

by low price like chinese mobiles are doing

 

[Anonymous user]

The software the tablet has are those Microsoft or open office? It would be a little odd if they were MS considering the cost of their software

Any pictures of the product?

 

[Firemaster]

So you actually don't know anything about it, and you think it can beat "many tablet pc's of great companies ".

BTW, you asked too much.

yes I know I asked too much
just curious

 

[blood]

So you actually don't know anything about it, and you think it can beat "many tablet pc's of great companies ".

BTW, you asked too much.

the gov of india has specially made these pc's for poor school going children , who can't afford huge priced gadget's of brand's like APPLE OR SONY , they have not made them for any competition or to flood the market's of other countries with cheap and six month guarantee product's , like you guy's do. On the topic , it is a great initiative by government of india.

 

[blood]

The credit crunch computer is set to arrive tomorrow in India when officials unveil the 500 rupee (£7.25) laptop. In an attempt to bridge the "digital divide" in the country between rich and poor, the government will show off the prototype, low-cost laptop as the centrepiece of an ambitious e-learning programme to link 18,000 colleges and 400 universities across the country.

India has a reputation for creating ultra-cheap technologies, a trend sparked last year by the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car at Rs100,000 (£1,450).

The computer, known as Sakshat, which translates as "before your eyes", will be launched as part of a new Rs46bn "national mission for education". This envisages a network of laptops from which students can access lectures, coursework and specialist help from anywhere in India, triggering a revolution in education. A number of publishers have reportedly agreed to upload portions of their textbooks on to the system.

Prabhakar Rao, vice-chancellor of the university in Andhra Pradesh from where the Sakshat will be launched, said that India was "looking to get the hardware and software cheaper. In a developing country, costs have to be kept low so that the maximum number of students will benefit. That means cheap computers and cheap broadband access, so that students get access to ebooks and ejournals."

Although half of India's 1 billion people are aged below 25, the country has fallen behind in terms of university places, with only 11% of students enrolled, compared with double that in China. India's bigger northern neighbour already has 180 million internet users, five times India's total.

Designed by scientists at the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and the state-controlled Semiconductor Complex, the laptop has 2Gb of Ram and wireless connectivity. In an attempt to keep costs low, experts say it is unlikely to use familiar Microsoft Windows software.

Officials are confident that the Rs500 price tag can be met. RP Agarwal, the top civil servant for Indian higher education, told newspapers last week that "at this stage, the price is working out to be $20 [Rs1,000] but with mass production it is bound to come down."

The Indian machine would also be considerably cheaper than the "$100 laptop", the lime-green computer known as the Children's Machine or XO that was designed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

Launched in 2005 in a flurry of praise by Nicholas Negroponte, the former director of MIT's Media Lab, the XO has failed to take off, partly because it costs $200 (£141) to make. However it has given rise to low-cost computers that save money by getting rid of hard drives and using cheap screens. The Classmate PC made by Intel, the world's biggest microchip manufacturer, can be bought for $400. Taiwan's Eee PC costs as little as $200.

However, some experts doubt that a laptop at $20 or $10 is commercially sustainable. Rajesh Jain, managing director of Netcore Solutions and a pioneer of low-cost computing in India, said: "You cannot even [make] a computer screen for $20. And India does not build much computer hardware. So where will the savings come from?"

Some bloggers today saw the new laptop as nothing more than a "souped up calculator". The scepticism was summed up by Atanu Dey, whose blog read: "If the government could pull-off a near-impossible technological miracle, does it not imply that the entire global computer industry is either totally incompetent or else it is a huge scam which produces stuff at very little cost and sells them at exorbitant prices."

Officials have been reluctant to talk about the project ahead of the launch, however, one did say that costs have been kept low by using students and researchers to do much of the designing. He said that in 2007 the cost was $47, but further refinements meant it dropped dramatically.

 

[blood]

self deleted