India's $35 tablet--how low can it go?

India's $35 tablet--how low can it go?

news.cnet.com

India on Thursday unveiled a prototype tablet computer that would sell for a mere 1,500 rupees, or $35, with the price possibly dropping even further as R&D efforts continue.
Kapil Sibal, the country's Minister for Human Resource Development, showed off the super-cheap touch-screen device in New Delhi as part of a push to provide high-quality education to students across the country. The tablet also comes with a solar-power option that could make it more feasible for rural areas.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Students from several branches of the Indian Institute of Technology co-designed motherboards for the computer, which the ministry would like to see dropping to $20 and possibly getting as low as $10.

Sibal called the as-yet-unnamed device India's answer to MIT's famed OLPC laptop aimed at children in developing nations, which started off five years ago with a projected cost of $100, but ended up going for $200. In May, Marvell Technologies announced that it would partner with the OLPC foundation to create the hardware for a proposed OLPC tablet, currently named the XO-3, that would go for around $100.

WOW $35 tablet!! But will it work as desired and have an actual impact on education system? I imagine if these work properly they can used in many Africa and many other such countries too to improve education.

The tablet is part of a larger initiative aimed at improving India's educational system through technology. Nearly 8,500 colleges in the country have already gotten broadband connectivity, according to the Ministry for Human Resource Development, and some 500 Web-based and video courses are available for upload on YouTube and other online portals, with more in the works.

news.cnet.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

What they are not telling you here is how much the workers get paid to produce these things. For $35 each retail price, you can bet its nowhere near enough.

China and India to take over as the leaders of the free world I guess

reply to post by Firefly_


I dont know what workers you are talking about. So far students from various institutes have made this tablet.

reply to post by Firefly_


It's all relative though.

These would be manufactured in an Indian version of a silicon valley type operation, so it's not going to be hundreds of kiddies in a sweatshop making them, it will be machines supervised by a small team of well paid professionals.

In my industry, we're being undercut by Inidans with Masters degrees selling themselves for $30k a year, as opposed to the $80K+ a year we charge in the UK. They still have the same relative living standards as us, as they live in the big cities with nice apartments where things are much cheaper than the same here.

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by Firefly_

 

It's all relative though.

These would be manufactured in an Indian version of a silicon valley type operation, so it's not going to be hundreds of kiddies in a sweatshop making them, it will be machines supervised by a small team of well paid professionals.

Proofs ?

Originally posted by Firefly_
What they are not telling you here is how much the workers get paid to produce these things. For $35 each retail price, you can bet its nowhere near enough.

This doesn't make any sense. The folks that make the ipads or iphones or anything like that don't get paid jack either.

Part of the deal of being part of the wonderful western world is accepting this crap. If a worker making an ipad is lucky they might get a buck for a days work. Then they realise they are getting screwed and go on strike. Then they get 2 bucks a day.
Then they realise they are still getting screwed. Then they go on strike again and then get sacked. They then get repalced with a guy happy to work for a buck a day. Lots of the poor bastards are comitting suicide too. So part of the acceptable production costs for your fancy electronic gadgets is now suicide. This is how your lifestyle is being sustained.

START THINKING.

The only difference with a $35 dollar tablet is that people making it are a lot happier to accept a lower profit than the likes of apple.



[edit on 25-7-2010 by JohnySeagull]

[edit on 25-7-2010 by JohnySeagull]

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by Firefly_

 

It's all relative though.

These would be manufactured in an Indian version of a silicon valley type operation, so it's not going to be hundreds of kiddies in a sweatshop making them, it will be machines supervised by a small team of well paid professionals.

In my industry, we're being undercut by Inidans with Masters degrees selling themselves for $30k a year, as opposed to the $80K+ a year we charge in the UK. They still have the same relative living standards as us, as they live in the big cities with nice apartments where things are much cheaper than the same here.

your having a laugh?


right?

What you should wonder is how much the "real" price of our western consume products is. With such a long time running technology you may think we would already be trough the 40k$ car and stuff, I thought the longer tech is out there the cheaper it gets. Still, we pay zillions for a single tablet, computer, etc...

HONG KONG — In a move aimed at discouraging further suicides, Foxconn — the maker of Apple's iPhone and iPad — will no longer pay compensation to families of employees who kill themselves, China's Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Nice move guys!


www.msnbc.msn.com...

THey say 10 dollar ....

well : nothing

we must change the economy !

reply to post by JohnySeagull


No, not at all. The big cities have some very plush, modern homes, shopping centres and the like. I am well aware of the grinding poverty many suffer alongside the ones living it up, but their not the ones I was talking about.

I read the article, and many of the comments there, and it seems there are many naysayers on the target price of $35. But I can very nearly believe it.

Using Chinese manufacturing plants, and making no profits (This is aimed at schools in India), I can believe $50 would be possible pretty quickly, and maybe $35 in time. If the Indian government is helping this project, and will be buying them for the schools, with a population of 2 billion, that's a lot of units right away.

Some people were saying things like "But 2Gb ram costs more than $35!", but I think they are forgetting some important things.

Yes, it costs me and you about $35-$40 for a 2GB ram. But that's once it's been through a couple of middlemen, each taking a large profit, and the cost of shipping.

If it costs me $35, i expect it cost the retailer more like $17, and their wholesaler more like $8, and it probably cost $3-5 to manufacture. When buying in the massive bulk, non profit, shipping just across the border from China to India, I think it's all very possible.

Originally posted by Firefly_
What they are not telling you here is how much the workers get paid to produce these things. For $35 each retail price, you can bet its nowhere near enough.

Does any manufacturing worker get paid enough?

The cost of living the their economy is never taken into account though. What might buy lots of food in india might buy a snack in the US and probably nothing to eat in the UK.

It is the stage their economy us at, the G7 have been through this as well. It is impossible to step change their country to be like the G7, the best we can do is change our spending habits to ethically produced products from those countries.

[edit on 25/7/2010 by LightFantastic]