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Aam Janta Ka PC..again!
Bangalore-based Encore and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) join hands to create a computer that costs Rs 10,000
(USD 232/- ) to Rs 20,000. Will this be the world's most
successful cheap PC?
BY M HAREENDRAN 11 May, 2005: Try to put forth any thing associated with computers into a wish list of things to buy and the chances are that 8 out of 10 potential buyers would reject it straightaway, citing it as too costly.
| Encore
Software introduces India's cheapest computers - photo
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Not any more. Welcome to the wonder world of low cost personal computers and lap tops.
If things go as announced, what the aam janta is expected to grab in three months from now is a mobile computer, which you may call a poor man's lap top, and that too at a
tantalisingly cheap price range of Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000 (1 US
Dollar= Rs 43). It would weigh just 500 grams.
The poor man's lap top is being brought to you by Encore Soft-ware, a Bangalore-based firm, under a project sponsored by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Three computers, which can run on batteries, are going to hit the markets. The basic model has been christened Softcom. Softcom, which would cost you a maximum of Rs 10,000, is a desktop with a 15-inch monitor.
The next model is Mobilis, which could be used as a desk top as well as a lap top, with a sleek carry case which can open up as a desk top stand. The key board can be rolled up and kept in a pouch while on transit. This would come in a price range between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
The final offering is Mobilis Wireless, which would have a price tag fixed in the range of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, would have a GPS receiver and GPRS wireless modem as value addition. Apart from basic applications like word processing, spreadsheet, personal information manager, e-mail and web-browser, the aam janta ka computer would play music, and would have text-to-speech conversion facility.
Built-in local language support would be available initially in Kannada, Marathi and Hindi. Soon Telugu and Tamil would be added to that list.
The people's PC would have no hard disk. Instead it would thrive on in-built memory. That won't be a dampener as you would always have the option to plug in what is called memory cards to add on to the storage prowess.
Since high-speed computing and games are not the poor man's forte, the aam janta ka pc would not have it, the reasoning being that while these facilities would make it costlier, it would have much use for the target group.
And the target group includes households, small shops, lawyers and chartered accountants, field staff or pharma , insurance and related firms. It could also be a nurse's aide and can be used as an e-book by small educational institutions.
The aam janta ka pc would be powered by a battery which provides six hours of computing at a stretch.
Even before it has hit the stands, a US-based firm has evinced interest in the poor man's pc. And ITC eyes it as a potential tool for its much-touted e-choupal.
All said and done, one wonders what happened to the Simputer, the low cost computer with multiple connectivity options. The simplified device was supposed to open the floodgates of computing to all and sundry three years back. A Google search to find out about simputers take us back to a story dated April 24 2001, a day before what the story says would be its scheduled launch. By sheer chance, the story also says group of scientists of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and some engineering professionals from the Encore Software have designed this simple device. And that it would cost just Rs 9,000.
Well three years later and for a 1000 bucks more, the floodgates of popular computing are all set to open, albeit in three months from now. The wait starts now.
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