India has unveiled the prototype of a €27 basic touch-screen 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 from India, home to the €1,670 compact Nano car, the €12 water purifier and €1,500 open-heart surgery.
The tablet, which it is hoped will be in production next year, can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing. It has a solar power option too - important for India’s energy-starved hinterlands - although that add-on costs extra.
"This is our answer to MIT's 100 dollar computer," human resource development minister Kapil Sibal told the Economic Times.
In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte - co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab - unveiled a prototype of a $100 laptop for children in the developing world. India rejected that as too expensive and began developing a cheaper option.
Mr Negroponte’s laptop ended up costing about $200, but in May his non-profit association, One Laptop Per Child, said it plans to launch a basic tablet computer for $99.
Mr Sibal turned to students and professors at India’s elite technical universities to develop the computer after receiving a “lukewarm” response from private sector players. He hopes to get the cost down to $10 eventually.
A ministry spokeswoman said falling hardware costs and intelligent design make the price tag plausible. The tablet does not have a hard disk, but instead uses a memory card, much like a mobile phone. The tablet design cuts hardware costs, and the use of open-source software also adds to savings.
India plans to subsidise the cost of the tablet for its students, bringing the purchase price down to around $20.
The project is part of an ambitious education technology initiative, which also aims to bring broadband connectivity to India’s 25,000 colleges and 504 universities and make study materials available online.
AP