Whether or not the 35$ tablet recently unveiled in India ever becomes real is irrelevant.
It looks like an iPad, only it’s 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.
But the 20$ pc in India – the “Shaksat” has not really happened.
But the Tata Nano – as the 2000$ car – did happen even if the cost is slightly over the magic target of one lakh rupees (100,000).
The 749 rupees ($16) water purifier is a reality and $2,000 open-heart surgery has been available for some time.
What is really important is the challenging of barriers and the attitude it represents. The future of distributed computing, perhaps through a much more extensive use of the cloud, could well depend on this challenging of attitudes. Ultimately the device used by every individual would be nothing more than a very secure interface device:
- secure and simple regarding the individual’s identity
- secure regarding the connection to the cloud, and
- secure regarding the personal or sensitive material stored in the cloud.
As Tony Bradley of PC World puts it
The $35 tablet prototype from India will run a variation of the open source Linux operating system. It has 2Gb of RAM, but no internal storage–relying on a removable memory card. The device has a USB port, and built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. Seems like reasonable enough specs–especially for $35.
On the software side, the $35 tablet has a PDF reader, multimedia player, video conferencing, Web browser, and word processor. The value of the multimedia player will be contingent on its compatibility with popular audio and video file formats. The functionality of the word processor will hinge on its ability to create, view, or edit files in Microsoft Word format.
….. Many will scoff at the idea of a $35 tablet PC. Of course, many tech geeks, pundits, and power users also scoffed at the concept of a netbook, claiming it was too weak to be of any value. A year later, netbooks were cannibalizing notebook sales as students embraced the cheaper platform, and business professionals opted for smaller, lighter mobile computers.
Ultimately, it doesn’t even really matter if the “$35 PC” ever materializes. The Indian prototype illustrates what’s possible and breaks down barriers–challenging the rest of the industry to push the envelope. A Linux-based (think Android or Chrome OS), Web-connected tablet would likely still be a tremendous success in the United States at three times that $35 target.
Of course netbooks are already losing out to ipads and small tablets.
Scoffers are already out in force but even they serve a purpose in creating the challenge necessary. It is always more satisfying to do something when there are those who scoff and say it cannot be done.
The k2p blog 