Intel Plans To Bring Low Cost PCs To India; PC Installed Base At 22 Million

Intel intends to bring its low cost Classmate PCs to India, reports ET. Classmate PCs, seen largely as a competitor for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, shall be priced between Rs. 9000 and Rs.11,000. Apparently, Intel did a pilot at DPS Vasundhara last year with 60 Classmate PCs last year, and another has been planned. Educational content for these has been developed by Educomp. Readers will remember that though the OLPCs XO laptop is expected to be priced cheaper at $175, India had rejected it. An attempt at a handheld computer by PicoPeta, called the Simputer, allegedly fizzled our for lack of government support. Novatium has it’s thin client for around $100, which co-founder Rajesh Jain says they can lease out for $10 a month.

At the Telecom Regulatory Seminar last week, I asked some representatives from Hughes, which is deploying kiosks in rural areas, about how much their PCs cost. Around Rs. 25,00 ($625), if you include cost of addons like printers etc, they said. However, I did not receive a conclusive answer for why no one is considering the second hand PC market. Sure, a P200 PC might not be as fast or useful as a P-4, but it’s still fine for basic usage.

Meanwhile, as per this release (via Pranav and FE), India has an installed base of 22 million PCs, growing by a CAGR of 32 percent from 2003 to 2006:

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