beyondbrics

India’s quest to produce the world’s cheapest laptop is undimmed.

Indian Institutes of Technology are vying to invent the computer world’s equivalent of the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, which sells for the knock-down price of about Rs100,000 ($2,050) a vehicle.

One of their initiatives got the backing of Kapil Sibal, the country’s well respected human resource development minister. Last week, he launched a touch-screen laptop with a price of $35. The handiwork of the IIT in Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, it looks a lot like the Apple iPad, which sells for $499. But even if all goes well, commercial production is some way off.

Aimed at students, the Indian-made tablet supports web browsing, video conferencing and word processing. The Linux-based prototype uses a memory card instead of a hard disc and can run off solar power.

The aim of projects like these is to undercut the so-called “$100 laptop”, otherwise known as the Children’s Machine or XO, which was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the US. Once in production, the latest, as yet unnamed, Indian device, could drop its cost to as low as $10, its developers say. India has been here before. Last year, its education officials sparked worldwide interest with a claim that they had produced a $20 ‘laptop’.

Pioneered in India by scientists at the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, the “Sakshat” had 2Gb Ram capacity and wireless connectivity. Commercial production was expected in six months.

You can’t fault the enthusiasm. It is driven by the need to educate hundreds of thousands of students through e-learning in a country with a population of 1.2bn, about half of which is under the age of 25.

Yet when the “Sakshat” prototype went on show, it was met with widespread derision. There was no screen, no keyboard. In fact, it looked nothing like a laptop.

The latest model looks more promising. Sibal’s championing of the project is reassuring too. But there is still some way to go before a low-cost Indian-designed laptop attracts a commercial partner – say from Taiwan – and becomes commercially sustainable. Until then, bringing super cheap computing to Indians will remain an exciting prospect rather than a sure bet.