New Post From Jerry Jeremiah
Kennedy George of Taos NM Mobile Motion Specialists, 7-22-10
You saw it here - an India $35 Laptop.
And now "India has a $35 Touchsreen (multi-touch) Netbook," as reported here on 7-21-10.
"I don't believe it," a lot of our top
Mobile Device Brokers (here in America) say. But, we ALSO do NOT believe this BS..... Why? Because we (USA, again) invented
the Internet and PCs and wireless and a lot of the "other stuff"...and yet, do we in USA see $35 laptops? No - and
never (likely) will, either. India's human resource ministry announced this week a "breakthrough" solar-powered
tablet computer that would cost only $35 in "early 2011." Reports say the tablet was developed at various Indian
universities. "We have made the breakthrough and are now ready to capture the market," said Mamta Varma, a spokeswoman
for the human resource development ministry.
In the first phase of the rollout, a million tablets would be provided to university students. In later phases, the
program would be expanded to primary and secondary students. Millions of students would be using these cheap tablets within
a year. Officials even hinted that
in the future the price could drop to $10 per tablet.
The project appears to target a similar demographic and purpose as the One laptop Per Child program, which is still struggling to bring the cost of its nonsolar,
NON-TOUCH computer down to its goal
of $100.
What's really going on
Because the mainstream media is too gullible,
shameless and lazy to report this story with even the slightest hint of skepticism, let me spell out what is almost certainly
going on here.
Indian politicians
have discovered that announcing technological "breakthroughs" that leverage Indian engineering prowess to deliver
computers to everybody helps get press and win votes. It's a cheap gimmick that works because of the gullibility of the media.
While the press pays attention
to the Big Announcement, hardly any media outlets notice later when nothing ever comes of it. Why? Because a headline with
"$35 tablet" in it brings traffic, eyeballs and readers, whereas a headline with "media duped again" brings
only shame. So they go for the glory but omit the shame.
For example: In February last year, the Indian government announced a $10 to $20 laptop called the Saskit. Like the $35 tablet, the unit had 2GB of RAM,
but details on other components were impossible to come by.
It was to be rolled out in six months and was to be used by millions of students across
India, transforming the Indian educational system and economy. So, where is the Saskit?
In 1999, a group of Indian scientists and engineers developed a
low-cost computer for the poor called the Simputer. It was a Linux -based pen-and-touch tablet with text-to-speech capability. The Simputer was announced with
great fanfare by the Indian government. The goal was to sell 50,000, but only 4,000 were ever sold."
A lot
of BS - from "overseas way out there...."
