India's $20 laptop computer was formally unveiled Tuesday, and
while there are questions whether the device can be made and sold
at that price point, officials responsible for the "Sakshat" laptop
are promising it will be available for $10 six months after it goes
into mass production.
The Sakshat model scheduled for display in the city of Tirupati
Tuesday has 2 GB of memory, which is expandable. It has Wi-Fi and
fixed Ethernet capability and will consume just 2 watts of power.
The laptop was created over several months in a cooperative effort
involving government, academic, and commercial interests.
"A lot of testing has to be done to ensure that the technology
works properly," said R.P. Agrawal, according to Indian media
sources. "Once the testing is over, the computers will be made
available on commercial basis. The target is to make it available
in six months' time." Agrawal, who has spearheaded the Sakshat
project, is India's Higher Education Secretary.
The Sakshat is thought to use a simple version of Linux open source
software as an operating system. Skeptics in India who question
whether the laptop can actually be produced and sold for such a low
price have noted that the Sakshat announcement precedes important
elections in India.
The low-cost laptop standard is represented by the One Laptop
Per Child Foundation's XO model, which is produced for $188. The
OLPC Foundation pioneered the cause of bringing affordable
computing to poor children around the world, and recently announced
a shift in its focus. Its founder, Nicholas Negroponte, talked last
spring of developing a slimmed-down $75 model of its XO model to be
called the XO 2.0.
There have been conflicting reports about subsidies for the
Sakshat. India's education ministry has been deeply involved in
developing the laptop and a curriculum for it. Indian media sources
have reported that Macmillan, Tata McGraw-Hill, Prentice-Hall and
Vikas Publishing have been working with the ministry to provide
content and digital textbooks for the Sakshat. Some of the content
will be available for free. According to the Times of India,
government agencies would provide funding to develop infrastructure
and connections for Sakshat users.