SCN: Indian initiative on computers for the poor (fwd)

[Joe Mabel]

[FORWARDS OMITTED]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020306/tc_nm/tech_india_
simputer_dc_1

India's 'Poor-Friendly' Simputer Set for May Rollout

Wed Mar 6, 6:19 AM ET

By Anshuman Daga

BANGALORE (Reuters) - A low-cost handheld computer developed by seven Indian
engineers to take the Internet to rural masses will start rolling out in
May, the head of a firm pioneering the project said.

The "Simputer," short for Simple, Inexpensive, Multilingual, is championed
by its followers as a friend of the poor, but some of its supporters add
that its features match cool and trendy handhelds like those built by Palm
Inc.

Originally expected to cost $200, it would now cost $50 more, Vinay
Deshpande, chief executive of Bangalore-based Encore Software Ltd., told
Reuters on Wednesday.

The color screen version is priced at $300.

"We hope to produce 50,000 Simputers in the first 12 months and take it to
300,000-500,000 in two years," Deshpande said.

Built by the non-profit Simputer Trust, the device is slightly larger than a
regular handheld PC, and uses the free-to-use Linux (news - web sites)
operating system.

Its software is expected to aid farmers seeking to know commodity prices and
beat middlemen and also provide speech recognition in regional languages to
help illiterate rural folk.

At $250, the Simputer will be three times cheaper than a PC, and cost about
the same as a color TV set, a price level which is expected to help spread
computers to the corners of India, two-thirds of whose one billion people
live in rural areas.

India's current installed base of computers is around six million.
"We have orders for 1,000 Simputers from firms in healthcare and
co-operative banking including few state governments," said Deshpande, whose
firm is one of the two key license holders of the Simputer.
Deshpande and two of Encore's other co-founders are part of the Simputer
Trust, which developed the device with a group of computer scientists from
Bangalore's prestigious Indian Institute of Science.

The Simputer hooks up to the Internet and accommodates individual smart
cards which store personal data to allow it be shared by many users. The
software also translates English and regional language text into speech.
Encore is initially targeting the institutional and corporate market instead
of tapping retail users which requires large marketing investments,
Deshpande said.

"We are currently working to make enhancements like giving it an
international style, greater memory and stronger battery power," he said.
The device was first unveiled last April.

Encore has given contracts to two Bangalore-based companies to manufacture
the Simputer and formed a joint venture with a Singapore-based company to
market the device in Asia.


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