It has a solar-power option
INDIA has unveiled the prototype of a £23 basic touchscreen tablet computer aimed at students.If the government can find a manufacturer, the Linux operating system-based machine would be the latest in a string of “world’s cheapest” innovations to hit the market out of India, home to the £1,400 compact Nano car, the £10 water purifier and £1,300 open-heart surgery.
The tablet, which it hopes will be in production next year, can be used for functions such as word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing.
It also has a solar-power option – important for India’s energy-starved hinterlands – although that costs extra.“This is our answer to MIT’s $100 computer,” human resource development minister Kapil Sibal said.
In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte – cofounder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab – unveiled a prototype of a $100 laptop.
India rejected that as too expensive and began developing a cheaper option.
Negroponte’s laptop ended up costing about $200, but in May his non-profit association, One Laptop Per Child, said it planned a basic tablet computer for £64.
Mr Sibal turned to students and professors at India’s elite technical universities to develop the computer after getting a “lukewarm” response from private-sector players. He hopes to get the cost down to £6.50 eventually.
A ministry spokeswoman said falling hardware costs and intelligent design made the price tag plausible. The tablet does not have a hard disk, but uses a memory card, much like a mobile phone.
