Christ University

Information Technology for Business

Topic: The Common Man’s Laptop

By Kushal S S (08D0062)

V Semester B.com “A”

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July 22nd 2010

India on Thursday unveiled a prototype tablet computer that would sell for a mere

1,500 rupees, or $35, with the price possibly dropping even further as R&D efforts

continue.

Kapil Sibal, the country's Minister for Human

Resource Development, showed off the super-

cheap touch-screen device in New Delhi as part

of a push to provide high-quality education to

students across the country. The tablet also

comes with a solar-power option that could

make it more feasible for rural areas.

Who are happy?

Everybody in the country is happy about this

as technology is being made affordable to

the common man. The students are the

happiest as this emerged from a student

project with a bill of material adding up to

$47, a price that the minister wants to bring

down to $10 "to take forward inclusive

education"

Features of the Laptop

The Linux-based computer at first glance resembles an

Apple iPad and features basic functions you'd expect to

see in a tablet- a Web browser, multimedia player,

PDF reader, Wi-Fi, and video conferencing ability. It

has 2GB of RAM (but no hard disk, instead using a

memory card) and USB ports and could be available to

kids from primary school up to the university level as

early as next year.

Students from several branches of the Indian Institute of Technology co-designed

motherboards for the computer, which the ministry would like to see dropping to

$20 and possibly getting as low as $10.

Challenges

While the extremely low price of India's newly

unveiled tablet is generating much hoopla, the

gadget still faces hurdles before it lands in the

public's hands.

"This is just a prototype," education expert Zubin

Malhotra told. "We need to find people who will

be able to manufacture these devices at these

price points and continue to develop them going

forward."

The Bigger Vision

The tablet is part of a larger initiative aimed

at improving India's educational system

through technology. Technology always has

the capacity to create and destroy things. This

vision of lifting the barriers that comes

between a common man & technology can be

removed and make the country a better place to live.

THANK YOU