Against a cell phone, the tablet's screen is a compelling argument.

However, I don't know if really poor people (who are mostly
illiterate) would go for a tablet over a *television* -- I've observed
that even people living in illegally constructed shacks next to train
tracks always have a DTH antenna dish sticking out from the roof. My
belief is that:
1. TV's are dead simple to operate -- turn them on and they work. If
you can't navigate your magical tablet's touchscreen, you have a
magical paperweight.
2. There's decent infrastructure in place (in India) to get a
direct-to-home subscription. I've been to some pretty remote places in
India (places that are accessible only using off-road vehicles and are
completely cut-off for three months during winter) and nearly all
these houses had dish antennas. AFAIK, 3G-based data plans aren't that
ubiquitous yet (you could only get them in certain cities in India
last time I checked -- about 2 months ago).

The battery question is an interesting one -- I read a review which
stated that the battery life is two hours. I've observed in urban
slums that (illegally) hooking up wires to overhead electricity supply
cables (a dangerous practice, to be sure) is common. I'm not claiming
that this is the norm everywhere, but financial pressure often
eliminates batteries anyway :)

I'm going to keep on harping on the "poor but intelligent/talented
student" angle. These are the people who'll benefit the most from such
a device. Imagine being able to read textbooks on this! Btw, I also
discovered in the review that the App Store / Marketplace is disabled,
which is *not cool*. Maybe they don't expect the target users to have
connectivity, but this severely limits the platform. There are a ton
of free apps out there which the users cannot get, and now custom
delivery platforms will have to be built for every project (I'm
thinking of textbooks, telemedicine, the fieldwork apps like the
Verbal Autopsy stuff, etc)

I've rambled enough here. My summary would be that this is a giant
step forward, but the poorest of the poor (think indigent poverty)
won't magically lift themselves out of poverty using this one device.
However, it does generate lots of exciting possibilities for
"slightly-better-off" segments and it can be an enabling device for
several projects on a shoestring budget.

--
Rahul

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 1:00 PM, Fritz Meissner <fritz.meissner@gmail.com> wrote:

Just brainstorming a hypothetically compelling reason: consumption of
locally-made movies, which I'm given to understand currently happens
wholesale on cellphones in India. Would the move to tablet form, i.e. bigger
screen and (one would hope) better sound, make for a massively improved
experience?
The Aakash could be a better investment than a TV / DVD player, given the
greater capacity and reusability of USB or SD cards compared to DVDs. Of
course, the TV has a bigger screen, but it doesn't run on batteries. How
much would a TV cost?

Fritz

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 3:15 PM, Jerome White <jerome@cs.caltech.edu> wrote:

However, there is a "rural/poor" segment that could afford this: those
making between 5 and 10 thousand Rupees a month. In fact it's what some
spend on a mobile phone. However, with the mobile, there is very compelling
reason to make such an investment. A similarly compelling reason, from their
perspective, to own this device isn't clear to me.

But, at least we've got another device to help us generate publications :)

jerome

On 06-Oct-2011, at 4:11 PM, Fritz Meissner wrote:

How much is $35 to the poorest of the poor? I recall an economics study
that paid Indian workers the equivalent of a monthly salary, I think that
was 50USD... 35USD is beyond cheap in the West but perhaps still not
affordable in that context.

OTOH if the tablet is locally made, perhaps just the work that the
manufacturer provides will be beneficial.

Fritz

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 1:32 AM, Joyojeet Pal <joyojeet@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with Yaw on this -- sure, it is great that this technology is so
cheap, and one can argue that similar such efforts have brought up new
technology innovations (Netbook etc) and various other benefits, what is
deeply problematic is the idea that this will solve the issues of
development in India, and Indian minister Kapil Sibal's announcing the
project as being some kind of a dig out of exclusion
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/india-announces-35-tablet-computer-to-help-lift-villagers-out-of-poverty/2011/10/05/gIQAPT8PNL_story.html)

If you look at UNDP's latest HDI report on India, you may find that
someone should find this claim at least quixotic, given that the country
ranks 119th in the world for what ranks are worth. India as a state spends
among the lowest on education (3.6%) and healthcare (1.1%) and has an income
inequality problem that is by all measure growing yearly, gender inequity is
0.748 (on a scale of the 'best' at 0.212 and 'worst' at 0.814). the average
Indian spends 4.4 years in formal schooling.. the list goes on and on.

i'm not saying this is not a significant achievement, my concern is
tying this to development in such a way, in fact specifically in the
perception that this could be the state's part in providing development in
india. i think it hurts the cause of folks working in this space at the very
least.

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 7:03 PM, Yaw Anokwa <yanokwa@gmail.com> wrote:
the hype around this tablet is terrible.

i think it's great to have cheaper technology, but android tablets,
even cheap $35 android tablets, will not lift villagers out of
poverty. i wish it were that easy...

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 15:49, Rahul Banerjee
<banerjee@cs.washington.edu> wrote:
Sorry for the spam, but I couldn't resist sharing such wonderful news:

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/India-announces-35-tablet-computer-for-rural-poor-2203509.php

(Actually, the government is subsidising its price (which would be
closer to $50), but it's still pretty amazing that something like this
exists at all)

--
Rahul
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