India Unveils Ultra-Cheap $60 Tablet For Students

[coolestcarl]

Note to Indians (or folks of Indian heritage):

The fact that you have access to the internet means you are in the groups of elite who have connectivity. Sociological studies show that the people you personally keep company with tend to be of similar social and economic standing. Its only natural then to assume that your experiences generally represent your distorted vision of reality. Sure 12% is 120 million people. I am willing to bet most of your friends will be within that 120 million people. A large pot to choose from.

Being an Indian myself and having lived in a village for 4 years, I know first hand the reality faced by the vast (Colossal) number of Indians who live in abject poverty (in the slums and on the street). SO DO NOT EVEN THINK TO DEFEND India's honor on poverty by saying we the second biggest economy etc.

The rampant corruption of government ministers and the wholesale stealing of tax payer wealth to accrue influence and power in a very wealthy country does not make it great. IN FACT IT MAKES IT AN ABSOLUTE SHAME. It makes it an absolute shame that despite the wealth HUNDREDS of millions still live in abject poverty. It is in fact a crime of incredible proportions worse than terrorism.

[citation][nom]ksampanna[/nom]The author paints the picture of India as if it were some barren wasteland deep into the Sahara. Sure we have our problems but still, we are the world's 2nd fastest growing & 4th largest economy, poised to overtake the US by the first half of this century[/citation]
The fact that Indian is enormously naturally wealthy and not a sub Saharan wasteland makes it an even more despicable crime.

[citation][nom]medhavi272[/nom]well INDIA has the 2nd best growth rate after China, Is the worlds 4th richest country, and will be the 2nd most richest country by 2030,[/citation]
[citation][nom]achilles01[/nom]Deeply Impoverished country??..the unqualified comment was uncalled for....the west seem not to disentangle itself from its oriental poverty stricken illusions about India. (many west countries are no better) We have grown leaps and bounds in last 2 decades and in all probability will continue growing much faster (for an economy of the size) in future too. I have lived in what is GEN Y, the mid 1980s till now, the transformation of India to say the least has been astounding.[/citation]
India has come a long way for sure in leaps and bounds. But it still has a long way to go before it can be compared to living standards in mature (developed) economies. Its not about GDP, but about living standards.

Knowledge is power. To that end the "cheap" tablet will help the rural areas gain access to the wealth of information that is available on the internet and give them the tools needed to revolutionize rural India. They can organize and stand up against those in authority who seek to suppress them.

[citation][nom]alyoshka[/nom]This is another stupid Govt Scam working hand in hand with a company to siphon funds in the name of Rural Education.[/citation]
And yes it more than likely another large orchestrated government scam like the bailout for financial bigwigs in the UK and US or the Obama's Stimulus bill 1.0, 2.0 and 2.5 beta . But I am hopeful that some good will still come out of it and change India for the better.

 

[lolsir]

well INDIA has the 2nd best growth rate after China, Is the worlds 4th richest country, and will be the 2nd most richest country by 2030,

Thats all bs and useless irl. The question is what will be india's poverty rate by 2030.

 

[halcyon]

[citation][nom]lolsir[/nom]well INDIA has the 2nd best growth rate after China, Is the worlds 4th richest country, and will be the 2nd most richest country by 2030,Thats all bs and useless irl. The question is what will be india's poverty rate by 2030.[/citation]

I saw a special on Discovery Channel that they actually eat...rats. They eat rats in India.

 

[arunmcops]

A small clarification about poverty rates. No talk about economy size.
Poverty and family status
According to the US Census, in 2007 5.8% of all people in married families lived in poverty,as did 26.6% of all persons in single parent households and 19.1% of all persons living alone.

Poverty and age
The US Census declared that in 2007 12.5% of the general population lived in poverty:
18% of all people under age 18
10.9% of all people 19-64, and
9.7% of all people ages 65 and older.

According to CIA about 12-15% US population lives below poverty line.

Source-http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

 

[del35]

How can students take notes on a tablet? A netbook would have been a better idea, but you can hardly produce a decent netbook for that price.

 

[coolestcarl]

[citation][nom]arunmcops[/nom]A small clarification about poverty rates. No talk about economy size.Poverty and family statusAccording to the US Census, in 2007 5.8% of all people in married families lived in poverty,as did 26.6% of all persons in single parent households and 19.1% of all persons living alone.Poverty and ageThe US Census declared that in 2007 12.5% of the general population lived in poverty:18% of all people under age 1810.9% of all people 19-64, and9.7% of all people ages 65 and older.According to CIA about 12-15% US population lives below poverty line.Source-http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States[/citation]

Ummm... did you check the defintion of poverty in the according to the US census bureau vs the Indian version?

Using two different scales to measure the problem are we?

Here is a better indicator - the UNDP MPI.
Simply put it measures by weighting poverty factors to indicate quality of life, rather than looking at dollars. (eg. schooling, health, electricity, cooking fuel thats sort of thing etc.)

According to that measure you would realize how bad it actually is. I think you would suddenly find the outdated method of measuring poverty using dollars makes little sense and makes for a giant catalogue of failed government schemes. After all hundreds of billions being spent on poverty should have reduced it! Instead that are more poor people today than before.

 

[Guest]

@coolestcarl i have to agree with u. i live on a small caribbean island with an economy similar to india's, 'strong', 'growing'. but 20% of the population live 'under the poverty line' (by our leaders' standards of what poverty is) and the number is growing. Unemployment has also risen within the last 2 years. I am no economist but what benefit is a strong economy if it does not serve the people.

 

[ojas]

Interesting, the discussion below the article.

But, to start from the title:
It's selling at ~$46 and $23 (subsidised for students) according to today's newspaper, so i'm not sure where the $60 price came from Ross.

About the discussion, yes we are a rich country but a poor one. It's ironic really. if at least 75% of all the money from scams, corruption and tax evasion would be put into development (without more scams and corruption), i think the tablet they've released would have actually made more sense.

At the same time, selling a tablet for the cost of a basic music phone is commendable. Though i feel if it had a 500 MHz ARM processor, a capacitive touch screen and Android 3.x, it would be a fair buy at $60 too. Sell it to students at $35. Would be cool.

I also didn't find Ross mentioning that it has 2 full sized USB ports.

 

[kkiddu]

Ambitious project, for sure. And I understand the power internet has for those who know how to use it. I know what will happen to my college if Wikipedia or Google collaps (God forbid).

But I have other friends, friends who were not good enough to make it here. They had access to internet, but what did they use it for? Facebook. And songs.

We have had a phenomenal cell phone growth rate - but most of the owners think that getting songs into their cellphones is a highly technical task worthy of Computer Science graduates.

I sincerely hope that I'm proved wrong, but I'm also willing to bet that these tablets and their potential will be underutilised - seriously underutilised. Let's hope the Indian government proves me wrong on this point.

As far as poverty in India is concerned - despite having a phenomenal growth rate and a stable economy, the benefits reach too few people. A lot of people are not happy, and don't have access to good food and facilities. A lot has to be done, by us. I did not make that clear before, but I'm an Indian.

 

[Guest]

In Portugal we had the educational mini-laptop called Magalhães. And also subsidized entry-level laptops.
Outcome of that?
They didnt get all delivered like promised, some money disapeared as if by magic, kids used them for pirated games from the internet and bitch and moan how hard their over-privileged-teenager life is on facebook!

To any Indian citizens present, force your goverment create CONTENT!!!!

We all heard of Tele-School, MS Encarta, interactive flash and java content... If you truly want your kids to be someone, give them actually something to learn !

Take the example of language learning programs, invent new way if necessary. As long a Indian kid can search a weird word he heard that day, to have intuitive tools that teach him not only the rules of a particular mathematical problem but also were he went wrong and why. The tools exist even before the CD-ROM and its new multimedia rich content.

CONTENT!!!! Now create a movement and force those bastard in goverment to actually teach those kids. Far to many stupid-ADD-striken-facebook-cry-babies here in the west. Learn from us!