India's $35 Laptop

They plan to bring the price to $10…runs on Linux OS. Competitor for Ipad? http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/07/23/going-for-cheap-indias-35-laptop/

Interesting article. I’ve followed the One Laptop Per Child (http://laptop.org/en/) project for years and read a hell of a lot about it. It really interests me as a technological feat and a business enterprise that they’re trying to do this. Yes, I understand the article you’ve referenced refers to the Indian gov’t as creator of the computer, but the projects are similar enough that I’m lumping them together. My thoughts: -Laptops like this are incredibly bare bones. You are literally removing everything that is non-essential from the computing experience in order to drive the price down. -In no way, shape, or form would this be a competitor to the iPad. I am not passing any kind of judgement on AAPL - just saying that this is like comparing a bic pen to a Mont Blanc. Two completely different audiences. -Unfortunately, everything I’ve read suggests that there is a better ROI for charity dollars if you build a poor town a library then if you try to get every kid a OLPC-type basic laptop. It’s a cool idea, but it bothers me a little to think about throwing money at projects like this because of the tech factor when most kids in developing nations don’t have a hell of a lot of access to books.