Neither a candle for an angel nor a poker for the devil
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India's $35 laptop scheme needs help
AS THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT proudly displayed a tablet computer which it claimed would cost just $35, questions were being asked as to whether the device would ever see the light of day. With India's track record, we wouldn't bet on it.
Perhaps the Indian Government and its citizens should take it as some form of flattery that the media decided not to deride the device itself but rather its path to market. On the surface there's little to argue about. A basic touch screen tablet designed for millions of children at a price which would make anyone who purchased an Ipad more than a little jealous.
The problem is, not only did the Indian government fail to provide a release date but it is still looking for a firm to build the device. Then came the news that while India's human resource development minister Kapil Sibal had said, "The motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything," the bill of materials ended up at $47. That figure doesn't even include logistics and labour.
What's more, Sibal's grandiose statement that the device "is our answer to MIT's $100 computer" seems to put the cart miles before the horse. Given the issues Nicholas Negroponte had getting his vision off the ground, it is a grave mistake to think that even India's government would have an easy ride to realise its dream of cost effective computing for all.
To many Negroponte might just be the guy who dreamt up the '$100 computer', but the reality is somewhat different. He is the man who started MIT's legendary Media Lab, helped shape tech magazine Wired and even invested in several start-ups including Skype and the Zagat Survey. Negroponte has quite a pedigree, but even his XOPC laptops failed, partly due to the very same problems which it seems Sibal has not considered when bandying about the $35 a device claim.
When the one laptop per child (OLPC) program was initiated, Negroponte stated that for the project to work, it needed to harness economies of scale. Thanks to Intel railroading the XOPC by releasing the Classmate, the massive, multi-million unit orders never really materialised and the price stagnated. India's tablet, however, gives Negroponte another crack at realising his vision. India, the largest democratic populous in the world not only represents a huge market but the future.
Negroponte's offer of "free and open access" to Sibal should not be construed as some grandstanding gesture from a man who is clearly disappointed that his efforts fell short of his own goals. It offers the chance for the Indian government to learn from OLPC's mistakes, curtail development steps, lower cost and actually bring a product to market.
Though the past 20 years have seen India become a technology powerhouse, when it comes to low cost laptops its success has so far been less than impressive.
Failures such as the Simputer and the Sakshat have left many questioning whether Sibal is merely making a bid for political glory. After all, details were worryingly scant and given that Sabil was essentially asking for firms to come forward saying it can build the thing at a price point that would satisfy him, it's probably best not to take the $35 tablet as a given.
Negroponte himself has had a chequered history with the Indian government after it decided to go it alone to try and produce the Sakshat, a computer that the government claimed would sell for just $10. The Sakshat failed miserably and in the end the government decided to buy a sack load of XOPC devices. The question is, how will Sibal see Negroponte's offer? A way of muscling in on the publicity and the work done by Indian universities and its government or an opportunity for both parties to get what they want.
The truth is, the Indian government needs to work with Negroponte's foundation, if for nothing else, to give it some credibility. The pricing figures Sibal announced seemed like they were plucked straight out of the Mumbai smog. For Indians this sort of pie in the sky political posturing that generates mass publicity simply offers up a chance for the country's politicians to embarrass the country.
Negroponte's plea to Sabil not to limit its tablet to just Indian children should be seen as an opportunity for India to provide the world with an answer to low cost computers with open hardware and software. Common sense suggests it should be a no-brainer but politically, Sibal may not want to be seen as accepting outside help. It's a shame because working with the OLPC would also help both parties to drive down the cost of producing devices through the economy of scale that Negroponte so yearned for.
In the commercial arena competition is a good thing for the consumer, however it's clear that neither the OLPC Foundation nor the Indian government wants to make a load of cash out of low cost computers. As Negroponte has put his ego to one side and extended the hand of cooperation, Sabil and his team should do the same.
Political points scoring by damaging kids' education is something that no one wants to see. A lot of the criticism levelled at the Indian government is testament to the desire to have a low cost computer that can truly affect the lives of millions. One hopes that in the zeal to promote the best of India, Sabil and his team don't ignore others who are willing to help. It would be a shame for everyone, least of all Sabil's political ambitions. µ
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Well, this time the joke's on the author as the $35 tablets were manufactured and released, in fact given for free to a lot of students. This was all over CNN and major news sites. The only drawback with the tablet is that it's no ipad and it's slow, an OK design, but it works, hopefully they will make it better in the future with the new ice cream sandwhich android OS. And for a kid from rural india, having this tablet is like his dad buying their first tv/computer, you cannot describe the excitement. I wish the best to the HRD ministry for keeping up their promise.
The big difference I see between the earlier OLPC and the current one is OLPC was looking for a product that is more close to the laptop and achieve the $100 mark. This one takes a different thought with just couple of keys and primitive touch screen and uses the connectivity for content access. HRD ministry should be congratulated for getting up the first proto on the table to prove what this product can do. Today this cost can be higher than $35, but with large scale manufacturing we can bring the cost do in stages. The original PC was at 1L+ but crashed to 40K and now at 17K range.
There are couple things that this product can do apart from the basic Educational purpose for which it was created
1) Broadband access device – With wireless networking in places, any ISP / Teleco provider can take this forward
2) Last mile automation - EB meter reading/billing, Ration shop, Hotel menu ordering, Stock broking
3) Display Platform – News, Advertisement, Information kiosk, banking
All these need some good investment in the IT infrastructure that is going to distribute / manage the content. Soon this should get to stage similar to how Mobile phone spread the Telecom infrastructure.
But for these things to happen, the HRD ministry should do two major things
1) Provide a reference platform for developers to start working on content creation
2) Move the manufacturing and design details to open source and facilitate healthy completion among vendors (like create a website in which vendors can quote for components in volume, manufacturers can quote for production)
With these help, designer can allow faster information flow, to make this a reality.
Dear Walrence Falit,
His name is Sibal, not Sabil.
As an Indian technologist, I know that we cannot build a $35 laptop unless Indian manufacturing technology jumps by more than an order of magnitude to bring costs down, simultaneous with the Indian currency being devalued relative to the $. The problem is that I see both as remote possibilities, and the combination is all but impossible. So, that seals it, I think. I just hope politicians are restricted from making idiots of all the smart people who have struggled in the last 30 years to make India the technology powerhouse that the world regards. I thank you for acknowdging that as well.
As an Indian technologist, I know that we cannot build a $35 laptop unless Indian manufacturing technology jumps by more than an order of magnitude to bring costs down, simultaneous with the Indian currency being devalued relative to the $. The problem is that I see both as remote possibilities, and the combination is all but impossible. So, that seals it, I think. I just hope politicians are restricted from making idiots of all the smart people who have struggled in the last 30 years to make India the technology powerhouse that the world regards. I thank you for acknowdging that as well.
Come on guys, when are we going to understand INDIAN way of working especially GOI.
$50 for corruption is never mentioned that should be understood by default.....look what a mess is surfacing on INDIAs pride CWG corruption scandal.
NEW DELHI: The never-ending reports of corruption in the Commonwealth Games are now threatening to sully the country’s image outside its shores as well. A British media report has said that the British Queen is in “cold fury” over allegations of financial irregularities involving a British firm and the Commonwealth Games baton relay.
...............
If you take up past corruption archive in iNDIA you can GIVE INDIA DIAMOND MEDAL forget about GOLD MEDAL.
...............
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cwg-corruption-ive-opened-a-can-of-worms-says-aiyer/655043/
Good Article. My point on the topic is that authors like you bring out the gaps and the good points in any initiative.The current project is executed by people from IISC and Sibal+his bureaucrats display what they get from these folks. It appears that the makers reputation is on the line now given the open questions & criticism and I am sure they will come out with a response soon as they know your post and similar ones are first on the google results.
We in India know how the politicians behave here. We also know that it is not possible at this particular time to build a $35 laptop. I tend to agree with the author of this article that India should take up the offer from Negroponte to bring its Laptop to masses.
Maybe they could make use of the all the technology us in the west throw away.
Although I am not saying that this is one of those cases.
Politician makes a grand statement of a vision of the future, the people like it.
The politician says that it will be cheap for all, but to get there we will need to fund some experts to come up with a plan, do some testing, prototyping etc.
Queue the friends who got him into power, their new company "The 35 dollar laptop design company".
They bill him $20mil for design, consultancy, expenses, building a factory (later converted to a call center), prototypes, marketing, travel etc etc.
Everyone gets fat and happy except for the taxpayer. But that doesn't matter ;-)
When I see those "Consumer Investigation" tv shows, I am never surprised that they never investigate governments, councils, etc. They should, then they would get credibility and ratings.
There's a typo in one instance where Sibal is spelled as Sabil in this article. Please fix it. :)
Good article Lawrence.
Governments (especially the socialist kind) have a long history of making grandiose promises, which don't work out in the implied timeframe of the promise. However, at least sometimes these promises were later realized by private industry.
For example, a nutcase in Germany with a funny mustache promised a cheap car for everyone. 20 years later, once the nutcase was out of the way, Germany delivered on that promise with cheap cars not just in Germany, but world wide.
In the case of the $35 laptop, it probably won't take long to determine if it's a politician's promise, or a real deal. If they pursue every opportunity, e.g. involving Negroponte, then it's likely real. If they insist on NIH, then it'll remain just one more piece of hot air exhaled by another politician.
Over time, though, I'm sure that either way there will be a $35 computing alternative. The markets are drooling for one, so someone will eventually deliver.