NEW DELHI (AFP) — India has unveiled plans to produce a laptop computer costing just 10 dollars in a bid to improve the skills of millions of students across the country.
The laptops will be mass-produced as part of a government-sponsored education scheme launched on Tuesday in the southern city of Tirupati.
Details about the computer remained scarce, but Higher Education Secretary R.P. Agrawal said last week that it would be available within six months.
"Once the testing is over, the computers will be made available on commercial basis," he told the Press Trust of India news agency."Its cost will be 10 US dollars. If the parents want to gift something to their kids, they can easily purchase this item."
The laptop will reportedly have a two gigabyte memory and wireless Internet capability, but officials have not publicly demonstrated a prototype -- or yet explained how it can be produced at such a low cost.
The government has earmarked more than 46 billion rupees (939 million dollars) to develop the low-power gadget to work in rural areas with unreliable power supply and poor Internet connectivity.
The planned laptop is part of a push to increase the number of students in higher education and give them the technological skills needed to further boost India's economic growth.
New Delhi rebuffed a previous attempt to bring cheap laptops to India, led by MIT computer scientist Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child programme.
The government cited hidden costs for its rejection of that computer, which was dubbed the 100-dollar laptop.
I have my doubts as to whether or not this will work, and if will function well or hardly at all, but I wish India the best in creating this piece of junk.
Such a great idea, I hope for the sake of education that it works out.
ReplyDeleteInteresting...doubt a similar thing would sell over here in the west, can't see why it would sell there either.
ReplyDeleteU Laugh U Lose
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its kinda shity i bet. Im going to buy it for 2o ans see.
ReplyDeleteIts a good idea, but the laptops will be incapable of a lot of things.
ReplyDeleteProbably going to be better than my six-year old rig, /wrist
ReplyDeletedamn thats crazy
ReplyDeletewow, pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI hope it works.
ReplyDeleteIndia will one day outsource everytthing
ReplyDeletei don't think this will work
ReplyDeletedidnt we have something like this in the US a while ago?
ReplyDeleteThe DS did it, and now everyone's going to do it. Damnit.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm still up and running. I enjoy what I do, so that keeps me going!