How about a follow-up article on how the ministry thinks it can achieve such a goal?

Can't happen. I can see maybe a weak PDA for close to that price. If you are lucky you might get a USB port on it or something.

This cannot compete with the OLPC. For $10 you cannot get the long range partial mesh wireless infrastructure networking the OLPC does. For $10 you can't even get the dual mode LCD screen the OLPC has.

I'd be very interested to see what pile of crap they CAN produce for that pricetag.

The whole point of the One Laptop per Child is just that. I think it is great if another group can produce a computer for cheaper. If they can make a $10 or even $50 dollar laptop that would bring internet access to millions of people around the world quicker.

It is a good goal. One must realize it might not be attainable but worth having to work for. It would probably be more realistic if it cost $50 to $75. Striving for something helps improve the product.

At 10 dollars, even the children building them might be able to afford them, why don't they aim for 20, so the kids can stay in school where they will learn to use the new tool?

10 bucks for a labtop, eh? What's it called? Perhaps its called Barbie's 1st Computer made entirely of plastic by Mattel.

Even the fact that the OLPC managed to sell laptopts for only $175 is quite amazing.

In a coupla years lets compare 'Crysis' on the $175 OLPC one and India's in-house $10 'Monster Machine'

I have more to say but I'm quite stoned on White Widow Tetraydracannibinol and now I must play some Deathmatch!!!

Apparently their goal is fairly attainable when child labor is being used.

This could happen in about ten years where the laptops will be running a prehistoric PIII or some thing like that.

why would you do stuff like waste money on things like a magnetic HD, operating system, upgradeable parts, large screen(or even color for that matter), hard to produce processor, and the list goes on. heck you woouldnt even need a processor package, im sure you could run some of those without heatsinks even,or just some heatspreader. its easy to imagine how far you could go with cost cutting.

Seriously, I really hope they can do it, but somehow I don't think it will happen. Just the case, screen, and keyboard will cost more that $10. Maybe if they found a company(ies) to do this for no profit and without considering capital costs into their pricing, then maybe this could happen.

And to the other comments, I agree that this will probably much less powerful than the OLPC and won't have any wireless or other features.

I think the money would be better spent on books, pencils, and paper.

Like most Indians i have met, they never fail to surprise me with their penny pinching mentality. Its in their blood i guess.

even if it is possible to make one, bet it wouldn't last a day. heh.

Only Chinese or Japanese can do that kind of stuff. Westerners are only good at managing crap, and indians at producing crap.

leon:

thats a pretty racist comment there buddy. what does penny pinching have to do with setting a goal of 10 pricetag for impoverished ppl to possibly afford a laptop? have you lived their life? i dont think you're in a position to say 100 is fair game and 10 is "penny pinching"

regardless of whether the goal is realistic or not, why are you putting indians down? i myself am indian and am not in any-way a penny pincher. Am i proud of this? not really...but for some reason it seems you might consider lavish spending something of an accomplishment.

Way I look at it is, if you try for $100 you're not likely to reach $30, but if you try for $10... well you might.

I guess this is the kind of reaction people had when the US announced the space program ? Put a man on the moon ? Never !!

When you consider the kind of things that *have* been accomplished... cellphones, DVDs, maybe it's premature to rule something out. You want low-cost ? Wasn't that many years ago a laser printer cost $1000 , you can get a fine one today for $100. Or a 1 GB USB stick for $10. Who would have thought it ?

i hate how people here are bitch*ng about India's efforts of trying to scale down the price of the laptop. See, People of America, if $175 sounds cheap to you, it obviously does not for third world countries! So don't gripe against India's efforts to make a more affordable laptop, because people there are living off of much LESS than you who live in the United States. Don't think of them as if they live in an economy much similar to the US, because they are not. Stop using your tech-savvy brouhaha here, because that's not what's important -- it's how these people are hoping to create the cheapest laptops they could so that people in third world countries can at least TOUCH and USE a computer before they die. You are fortunate because you can easily buy and use a computer. Sometimes, I hope the U.S. would get the feel of these third-world nations, and maybe, just maybe, they'll realize that India's efforts are very noble and inspiring.

By the way, what's up with OLPC's WIRELESS feature? Can't they use a cheaper modem or wired LAN port? It's not as if people from third world countries will actually buy wireless routers for Internet access?! That's just a LUXURY that can be easily eliminated with PRACTICALITY!

Way to go bringing the price from $100 to $175 OLPC! A few bucks more and you're just about ready to cover an average third-world person's DAILY BUDGET!

For those people who are saying this is NOT possible, i suppose you are sitting on you computer using Windows XP, along with Microsoft Office and a couple of thousand dollars worth of sotware more.

The "laptop" what is required is actually a portable computer, that will allow the children to surf the web, and help in education, allowing maybe, some facility of video confrencing for the teachers.

This sort of computer is definelty possible for the price, of maybe 20$, if not $10.

@leon Its not penny picnhing, perhaps you have never heard of government subsidies on products, maybe because you government nevr gave you any.

@Bruce Production of books is a recurring process, which will be eliminted if the OLPC or $10 laptop meet success, if any.

What fools (you guys no the Indians), how much do you think it costs to make the very computer your using right now... do some research, As for India, it's possible but you can't do it, trust me

If the manufacturers and distributors do not have to bribe anyone, then the $10 laptop can be sold at a profit!

It makes no competition to OLPC becuase any $10 laptop will be a piece of shit. If its manufactured in India it is guarenteed to be highly defective as well. In my opinion they are just being too cheap.

Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association (USA), could produce one if they do not have to pay any bribes!

india is a vast portion of rural students who do not hve access to books...a laptop is the most impractical solution

does it erase everything when you shake the thing?

u people cannot just digest the fact that indians can do stuff better than others...

i hope this happens.

well if you think penny pinching mentality exists in only the indian people i guess your IQ must be the same as your shoe size and of course generalising a specific trait to an entire demographic just shows how developed your cerebral matter is

Much of the current $100 laptop is made in China, and thus bothers the Indian government which would rather be spending money on Indian made laptops. This is likely the reason why India turned down the offer, and now they will try to replicate the technology at home. It is a matter of Indian pride combined with their feelings of rivalry with China.

It's funny how India prefers to buy local, while in North America we have no problem with buying goods from Indian.

I think those naysayers should sit back and get ready to be amazed. There are a lot of things that go into a modern computer that most of us take for granted. When you get down to it, there's a lot of stuff you don't really need. A USB port or a color screen? That's like saying you can't build a car without a sunroof. Ignoring racist ad hominims, Indians are highly intelligent; ask any tech company if they would hire IIT grads. I really hope they make their target. One more dollar saved means that many more laptops.

How about making a $1 toilet for your 1 billion people first. Stop shitting in your rivers first

unlike leon, i think indians give most things a push. many things are beyond thier means, yet they try to create stuff, and not go around shooting in schools coz they see a difference in material things around them. its worth a try..

Never underestimate an Indian . Indian Brain can do anything in technogoly if he wants . remember nasa , ibm GE has lots of Indian . and an Indian AryaBhat Invent tha "Zero" which is why we binary Digits . so India can do it sooner or later definatly . the only prob is that Indian r u lazy when they in Home country.

Most of the commenters so far have only expressed their sense of racism! You sit in a comfortable air conditioned room, without even imagining the condition of poor kids in several 3rd world nations.

And then you treat a honourable country like its a piece of sh*t. Do you think it isnt possible? Mark my words you bunch of bloody racists, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE!

You can cost cut a lot. Make the whole thing of plastic. Minus the looks. Get second hand parts. Use Linux. It WILL be possible.

And you racists, stop insulting my country. Or else I will start off with what and how degraded WE consider YOU to be(trust me, its a loooong list).

I'm expecting this to result in a monochrome graphing calculator.

man why did I spend $3400.00 on this new dual core with 2 gigs of ram? I could have saved either $2200 or $2390. I guess I should remember the stuff I buy is a little marked up...

Just two things.

1. Necessity is the mother of invention.
2. Truth could be stranger than fiction.

$10 could be a little exaggerated, but can't imagine what would happen there in India. It's just they are little slow in development. When they do, they do it just fine.

yeah that's right. Indians will be able to do anything for less money than you wasteful Westerners. If GoI totally pwns MIT, you gonna cry like babies.

Also, it is Americans who make children work when they're 16 and for no pay too, when they're 14 (so called "volunteers"). Indian kids have all the fun, and blimey, you'll steal the 10$ laptop from a poor Indian kid when you visit India for your vacation you dweeps.

your American companies take advantage of poor people and make them work in sweatshops for dirt. they still sell you stuff for hundreds of dollard & eat the profits. they should be the ones selling at $10.

Also, the OLPC project is a convoluted way to get more countries indebted to the World Bank. See how they raised the price at the last minute. All that is needed for spreading the laptop is a basic screen, keyboard & mouse with internet access, some ram & a central server for storage.

no need to hire a pro designer. rename the project to make it seem "cool" at the expense of relaying the right message. no need for DS like dual screen with stylus input or speakers or flash memory or any of that cost-raising stuff

Hey leon ....dont be so jealous....so american... hahaha

"Never underestimate an Indian"
Try "never underestimate a human"

Seriously, Indians are not superhumans. People from poorer backgrounds tend to try harder in life than their better-off peers. And while production in poorer countries tends to be cheaper, it also tends to be worse quality. You get what you pay for.

I don't think make a laptop for $10 which isn't a POS is possible, simply because the raw resources: oil, silicon, metals, cost more than $10, I should think.

On the wireless internet: a child could connect far more easily to a public wirless access port than to a cable one. Surely you are not stupid enough to think that the poorest children have broadband at home?

Hey Guys,
You think its really impossible... let's just say you are talking retail prices your mega million $$$ corporations charge you and then make Gates the billionare... Guess what, a book for example, which you would by in US for 20-30$, sells an official edition in India for may be 6-7$.

Only reason you feel it cant be done because you are so used to companies like IBM, Intel etc. putting in a 90% profit margin for themselves, then OEMs like HP, Dell add 90% for themselves and Government adds about 50% in names of various taxes.

Taken all that off and you have already reached half the goal probably. Here Government is getting it all manufactured straight and not taxes or profiteering.

So, yes, absolutely possible.

OLPC is a commendable effort, but still priced slightly out of reach for india.
as for the indians' aim of $10, well, that's simply not possible. i am an indian, so i know that this is just posing, nothing else. heck, we cannot even beat OLPC i think!

maybe OLPC folks should intensify their efforts.. a $80 laptop with some features cut off would be nice....

I always knew your geography was weak but had no idea I can say the same about History too haha

Do I have to say the same about your Mathematics , go to first grade and learn that 47 < 175 . we have made laptops which are cheaper than what you have "accomplished"

I think $10 will take lots of research and stuff

You need to dream to fulfill it , we have a dream you don't now zip it up.

Lastly impossible is made of - I M Possible , think about it :)

There is too many people saying stupid things like it not possible and it's going to be a POS and things like wireless internet are to expensive. Sure $10 dollars isn't much but these computers don't have to do much. Kids aren't going to be using them to play games or anything, they don't need screens with 2500000 colors, they need screens with two colors black and white(neither are colors? haha). A laptop for kids in 3rd world countries could be similar to 100's of downloadable text books which would be much cheaper to distribute electronically as 100Kb text files instead of actual physical books. Laptops would get rid of the need of physical paper and pencils. One laptop per child or even a famuly would greatly increase the number of kids being properly educated. What is with people saying wireless is a bad idea when trying to cut costs? 100's of people could connect to a single router. The cost of 100 wires to connect to some magical inexpensive 100 port router would cost more that the upgrade from a ported laptop instead of a wireless upgrade. Indians will achieve this goal or one close to it because they want to. They could do it for 5 dollar I bet. All they have to do is go to any north american landfill and they have a massive supply of free computer parts because that you all just threw out because they are not powerful enough to play farcry over 30 fps and don't even think thats a stupid comment because I have a 256 stick of ram collecting dust on my shelf and so does my gf, maybe I should send them to India , 256 ram would be enough to power 10 laptops for what uses they need it for.

Perhaps once the racist comments are done away with, the government of india has some sense in it's rejection of the 175$ laptop. There are way too many people who live on less than a dollar a day. Even if the government subsidises the laptop,it has to be within limits so that it doesn't blow a hole through their budget. 10$ is ambitious but not entirely unachievable

Hey guys,
Why do you say its not possible? OK, not possible maybe right now. But what about a couple of years later?

Minus the looks, high specifications, big screens, speakers, touch pad, cool keyboard, dvd-rw.
Put in linux, low cost material. Make it a bit heavy, doesnt matter. Make it bit more bulky - education isnt aiming at the style of Sony Vaio.
And in a couple of years, it WILL come true.

And leon, how can you say that Indians have a money pinching mentality? And a few others too saying that Indians are misers because of less money?
Think of Mother Teresa. Think of Mahatma Gandhi. Think of Mata Amritanandamayi. Still think Indians have a money pinching mentality?

Think of Lakshmi N Mittal(4th richest guy in the world, and owner of the biggest steel producer in the world). Still think Indians have no money?

And we can do a little less with the racist comments. Let me remind you that 39% of Microsoft, 41% of Google, and 30% of Oracle are all Indians? Thats calculating WITHOUT the outsourcing.

And did you know, each time you used an Amex Credit Card, that 95% of the Amex system was designed, coded, manufactured and tested by Indians?

If Indians can make a CAR for $2000, why not a laptop for $10?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6582773.stm
When we can commercially launch satellites into space , I think there should be no problem as far as technology is concerned. The only real problem is that this is a government initiative.

Firstly, I'm an Indian. Secondly, let's drop the racism (both ways). Calling names, using unpractical stereotypes, and being racist doesn't solve the issue that's present;Manufacturing Laptops for the price of $10.

To all those fellow Indians out there, we're not super humans (I agree with Alex). Such a mentality will lead the world down the drain (And has been doing so because, people such as Hitler thought their race was superior than the rest). In our culture it is not acceptable to think of one's self as better than another. We treat others with Honour, Respect, and Dignity, and we expect to be treated the same, as well. I do not see how some people claim that "Indians" are the greatest. For all those Indians trying to protect their national integrity, please remember not to harm the integrity of others in the process of protecting your own, and do not make false claims that hurt the rest of the population.

Now back to the issue: I don't see why all you people are being so pessimistic. If they can produce a laptop for $10, despite how far fetched you think it is, then that's good for them. As long as it is achieved, that's great for them and for the poor, impoverished people who need laptops for "Educational" purposes. I bet when your thinking of making a laptop it includes a 7950GTX, and to downgrade that to the least would include a 7600GT. Such is considered a privilege, in some places of the world. Laptops for the price of $10 will obviously be made with minimal features and manufactured using the cheapest materials.

Lastly, there shouldn't be any issue here addressing the capabilities of humans. As time and time again we have proven that what was impossible once could become possible in the future. I hope that they are able to produce such laptops because it will benefit a lot of people.

I really think some of you guys should learn a thing or two about tolerance.

Please visit this site:
http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/tolerance-quotes.htm

Do you remember the price of a PII with 4.3 gb hdd and 16 MB RAM in 1998? The year end sale at Best Buy had it for $1799/-. No one will even pay $17.99(mere 1%) for that anymore. If the price can come that low, then why can't it come down from $47 to $10(21%) which Indians strive to achieve in two years from now.
And for you Mr. Leon, Indians invest $9 for a $10 purchase, unlike those like you who can't even buy a pop without using plastic. It's no surprise for me to see you swiping your card being rejected to buy a 25cent-gum at Wal Mart, you moron.

Yes there thinking in a material standpoint a computer actually costs pennies to make, processors are like 4cents to make. But the research, development, and the cost of labor puts more cash into the products. For instance like Microsoft’s windows and office more development and time where put into it than actually making the disk. You also have to take into account the cost of advertisement too.

I think the internet is the next big thing after mobile phones for the third world.Look at how mobile phones have improved connectivity for millions of poor people.With more web based applications in the peoples own language,the computer would be more widely embraced.For eg farmers are using it to track prices of grain thereby reducing the capability of middle men to fleece them.I agree it wouldnt have any of the features that we traditionally associate with computers but they dont need them.The 10$ "computer" should be an internet access device -no more no less.I have seen reviews of web based operating systems on the net.My point is it is the web where all the action is going to take place in the future therefore the cost of the hardware can be reduced.As for connectivity we are talking about one computer for one vilage of maybe 5000 people in the beginning.I am sure the government could do something about connectivity for a village.Maybe a gprs based service through the mobile phone ?I dont know - I am not an expert.And those of u who are wondering -it is no typo ONE computer for a Village of 5000 would be a good start.I hope it helps the american readers to put things in perspective.

Everybody in every part of the world has a hand in where we are today. Let's not just throw dirt over each other. We as a race have achieved the impossible.
Aiming at something and achieving something close is probably the plan.
If we have something to comment, let's make an attempt at being positive and if possible contribute.......

indian companies over promise and under deliver. ask any US corporation that thought they were gonna save a bundle by outsourcing entire projects to india. more then likely this claim is more of the same...

Well I got a solution. Wait a year and buy a used one for $10 dollars. Cause its not like the whole world is going to have a laptop in one year. Also, where are they going to plug it in? Solar cells cost even more than the laptop itself. Its all just someone trying to make a buck, or penny.

anything is possible in india

in 1990s who thought international ph calls would
come from 2$/min to current 10c/min?

Mera Bharat Mahan

Perhaps their first concern should be healthcare, food and fresh water for everybody.
If they can arrange that for 10 dollars, that would be really amazing !

Is it so that some politicians will look good with the project? I think they should solve basice problems like poverty and birthcontrol as well as nutrition first before going hightech. What's the point of every child having a laptop at home? Do you think they'll pull copper wires to "every" child's home? A more logical solution would be a community computer center that connects to the internet. At $10, the laptops must be really slow and torturing (by our standards) to use. Plus, are the materials that they use to build it even safe? There's no quality control, as the purpose here is just to throw a laptop to a child. I'd rather buy a years worth of food than the laptop with that $10.

10$ is a months wages or worse for some of the poor people here in India.there are a lot of daily wage earners here that don't really know when n from where their next pay is going to b,so u do the math.