http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2006/12/05/battle-for-the-cheap-education-computer-heats-up Comments for "Battle for the Cheap Education Computer Heats Up" en http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2006/12/05/battle-for-the-cheap-education-computer-heats-up#comment-5872 An interesting article -- thanks for reproducing it here!<br><br> A quick correction: I think you have a link to the wrong 'Schoolnet' here. If you are referencing the IL&FS company, its web site can be found at <a href="http://www.schoolnetindia.com/" title="http://www.schoolnetindia.com/">http://www.schoolnetindia.com/</a>.<br><br> On a related note, we (infoDev) just released our updated list of low-cost computing devices and initiatives for the developing world, which might be of interest to some of the NextBillion community: --> <a href="http://infodev.org/devices-list" title="http://infodev.org/devices-list">http://infodev.org/devices-list</a>. (We also maintain a weekly archive of news stories related to this topic, including some postings from NextBillion.net, available at <a href="http://infodev.org/devices-news" title="http://infodev.org/devices-news">http://infodev.org/devices-news</a>.)<br><br> Cheers,<br> Mike <br class="clear" /> Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:31:13 -0500 Mike Trucano comment 5872 at http://www.nextbillion.net http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2006/12/05/battle-for-the-cheap-education-computer-heats-up <p style="padding: 5px; float: right;"><img src="http://www.nextbillion.net/files/images/100LaptopPrototype.img_assist_custom.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image img_assist_custom" width="150" height="117" /></p><em>This article is re-produced with the kind permission of Russell Southwood, Chief Executive of <a href="http://www.balancingact-africa.com/about.html">Balancing Act</a>. Browse this week&#39;s edition of their excellent <a href="http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/current1.html">newsletter</a>, or consider <a href="http://www.balancingact-africa.com/mailing_list/subscribe.php">subscribing</a>. </em><br /><br />The holy grail of cheap computers for emerging markets is producing a sub-$100 laptop for education purposes. <a href="http://www.laptop.org/">One Lap Top Per Child</a>, the initiative launched by MIT&#39;s tech showman Nicholas Negroponte took a step nearer last week with its first test production run. But it has a competitor in the shape of a Canadian company producing a similar if <br />more expensive laptop product called Ink. The road to the holy grail is already littered with the failure of the Brazilian Volks and the Indian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simputer">Simputer</a>. The Volks never made it into production and the Simputer is under-specified and over-priced. It has had low sales in India and its African distributor closed up shop some while ago. Russell Southwood looks to see whether the latest contenders will overcome the scale of challenges involved in succeeding with low-price computing.<br /><br />(This article continues past the break; click &quot;Read More&quot; to continue)<br class="clear" /><p><a href="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2006/12/05/battle-for-the-cheap-education-computer-heats-up">read more</a></p> http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2006/12/05/battle-for-the-cheap-education-computer-heats-up#comment Education Telecommunications and IT Tue, 05 Dec 2006 09:14:55 -0500 Al Hammond 3657 at http://www.nextbillion.net