India is planning to produce a laptop computer for the knockdown price of about $20 (€16, £14), having pioneered last year the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, for Rs100,000 ($2,050) a vehicle.
The project, backed by New Delhi, would considerably undercut the so-called “$100 laptop” designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the US. The Children’s Machine was the centrepiece of the One Laptop Per Child campaign, an initiative launched by Nicholas Negroponte, the computer scientist and former director of MIT’s Media Lab. Intel launched a similar product, called Classmate, in response. But the Children’s Machine received a cool reception in India.
India’s $20 laptop would also undercut the EeePC, made by Taiwan’s Asustek. The EeePC was the first ultra-cheap, scaled-down laptop (a new category known as a netbook) launched worldwide through commercial channels. It has no hard drive and sells for $200-$400.
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