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$ 35 TABLET!!

Posted 7 months ago|5 comments|300 views
Low Cost Computing For The Masses
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Altruist
Eugene, OR
Bill Gates said that within 5 years the best education will be on the internet. He thinks that education will rely less on places like schools and universities.

The first stem is to get every child a machine that will give them access to the internet where all of that exciting learning will take place.

Most of the kids in the world are poor and can't afford a laptop and often there are no power sources. The goal of One Laptop Per Child was to create a rugged laptop that kids can use anywhere. http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/ind...

Originally the goal of the laptop was to have an open source machine for $100. The machines actually cost $200 at first but the prices have been going down, and the later versions switched to a tablet design. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1

Now India has created a tablet that only costs $35. They expect the costs to go down to $20 and eventually $10. http://trak.in/tags/business/2010/07/22/...

The future of education may well be online. Soon that education will not just be for the developed countries.

Originally The OLPC software would be open sourced so inexpensive educational programing could be added. Then Apple said they were interested and wanted it to run Windows. The XO laptops/pads never did sell with a Windows OS, but India's pad looks like it has the Windows OS and will also run the Android operating system.
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Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
7 months ago: PS. I really didn't intend this post to make those who have just spent $500 on an IPad or $200 on a Kindle feel bad.

I am just excited that the poor of the world may soon have access to the internet and all of the educational and business wonders that entails.

The Indian factory can only make a few hundred thousand a year so we won't be able to go down to Wal Mart and buy one soon. The main intent is to spur competition. This will bring down the price of All of the small mobile computing devices.

The third world is now starting to utilize cell phones to communicate and conduct business since most third world countries do not have facilities for hard wired phones. Now they will be able to expand their business acumen and their educations.

As Freidman said the future will be flat, hot and crowded. http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf...
7 months ago: Al. 35 dollars in India? People in India that make 2 dollars per day are considered "rich".
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
7 months ago: India has a huge budding middle class by 2025 there will be half a billion middle class people in India. Now there are a lot of college educated professionals and a lot of people doing things like answering our help phones, our computer services, and other services.

Cell phone usage has exploded in India and once they educate the masses with mobile devices like this tablet the consumer demand will grow exponentialy.

All of these folk are going to want all of the luxuries that we take for granted like cars (Tata has one for $2100), homes, refrigerators, air conditioners etc.

This will severely strain all of the earths resources.
7 months ago: How much does that Tata Motors car cost in the U.S.? Which one is it? Does it pass as secondary handicapped transportation (if so it should be free with the proper medicare forms)?

http://www.tatamotors.com/
Altruist
Altruist
Eugene, OR
7 months ago: I don't think the Tata Nano is available in the states. The car is minimalist and "Tata Motors' $2,000 Nano has no air conditioning, stereo or air bags and a single windshield wiper. But it puts the dream of car ownership within reach for India's middle and working-classes. The Nano's lightweight, two-cylinder engine musters about 35 horsepower. It tops out at just over 60 mph. Today, only eight of every 1,000 adult Indians own a car -- compared with about 770 per 1,000 American adults. According to Tata Motors, the Nano gets about 50 miles per gallon and is 12 percent less polluting than a typical motorcycle." http://www.tomsguide.com/us/tata-nano-ca...

I think if it were sold in the states it would have to be remade to meet safety standards and the tastes of Americans (Air conditioning, more power etc.).

It is like the "Smart" cars that got 70 mpg in Europe but when it was Americanized the costs doubled and it only got 32 mpg.

I think the same may be true for the $35 tablet. It is a minimalist machine put out by the dept. of education to help students. It can do everything most computers can and can be used instead of textbooks which could save their dept of education big bucks.

Americans would probably demand a better machine, but this will undoubtedly bring the cost down of everything.

We should learn from India. Give every student a tablet and publish all texts on line and we could save billions.

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