India-IT-Simputer
Indian Simputer's demand already over 1 mn mark
by Imran Qureshi, India Abroad News Service
Bangalore, Apr 26 - India's promising contribution to the world, the
Simputer, a low-cost portable alternative to the personal computer, is
finally out - and its worldwide demand already exceeds the one million mark.
The simple computer for the illiterate -- it can even talk back in several
Indian languages -- was formally launched here by its creators, four
professors of the Indian Institute of Science (IIS) and three experts from
Encore Software.
The large attendance at the launch was not the only reason for its creators
and members of the Simputer Trust -- Vijay Chandru, Swami Manohar, Ramesh
Hariharan and V. Vinay (all IIS) and Vinay Deshpande, Shashank Garg and Mark
Mathias (all Encore) -- to be overwhelmed.
"The enquiries of committed demand we have received is phenomenal. I would
not be surprised if one million pieces are produced within 12 months. Don't
look surprised, we still are, yes, one million is the committed demand,"
Encore CEO Deshpande told IANS.
The Simputer, its name derived from "simple" and "computer", is about the
size of a palmtop but much more powerful. If produced in large volumes, it
would cost Rs. 9,000, or less than $200. The idea of the Simputer was born
during the 1998 BangaloreIT.com, an annual event that has become Asia's
biggest IT show.
It will be marketed by the licensees -- Encore Software, Picopeta Simputers
(a joint venture of IISc and Encore) and VXL Instruments. From May, the
hardware and software specifications can be downloaded free from
www.simputer.org.
"An international developmental agency is already in touch with us and there
are others interested in buying it," Deshpande said.
"Manufacturing should begin in three or four months. We have received a
number of enquiries, including one from a global major," added Chandru.
But what surprised the creators are the applications that can be used on the
Simputer. "The kind of applications some of the companies have spoken about
are really mind boggling," Deshpande said. "One company wants to load an
accounting software whose cost would not exceed Rs.15,000."
In villages, for example, a smart card will enable an entire community to
share the Simputer, which can help the farmer find out the price of
vegetables, do micro-banking, book rail tickets and even receive money
orders.
--India Abroad News Service
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NOTE: Website of simputer is www.simputer.org
Egropus is discussion on the subject [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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