Doing Something Right: India to Give Poor People $35 Tablet Computers

Published October 9, 2011

Here’s some good news for a change. The Indian government will be providing dirt cheap tablet computers to poor people.

In the United States, don’t expect anything of the sort to ever occur.

The truth of the matter is that a tablet computer costs only about a penny to make. For companies like Apple to sell their iPads for $500-$1,000 is just absurd. ‘Sides, slave labor is generally used to produce these gizmos in the first place.

The world of science has provided humanity with an abundance of new tools in recent times that if applied properly, could help to elevate the species in many ways.

Price is all that holds us back from reaching Mars, colonizing the moon, or building high speed mag-lev trains that interconnect the world. Get rid of price- or make things totally cheap like what India is doing with these tablet computers- then we’ll be getting somewhere.

Grant J. Kidney

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NEW DELHI (AP) — India introduced a cheap tablet computer Wednesday, saying it would deliver modern technology to the countryside to help lift villagers out of poverty.

The computer, called Aakash, or “sky” in Hindi, is the latest in a series of “world’s cheapest” innovations in India that include a 100,000 rupee ($2,040) compact Nano car, a 750 rupee ($15) water purifier and $2,000 open-heart surgery.

Developer Datawind is selling the tablets to the government for about $45 each, and subsidies will reduce that to $35 for students and teachers. In comparison, the cheapest Apple iPad tablet costs $499, while the recently announced Kindle Fire will sell for $199.

Datawind says it can make about 100,000 units a month at the moment, not nearly enough to meet India’s hope of getting its 220 million children online.

Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal called the announcement a message to all children of the world.

“This is not just for us. This is for all of you who are disempowered,” he said. “This is for all those who live on the fringes of society.”

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Source: Associated Press