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Quantity has a Quality all it's own
"I like the idea of a portable computing device whose specification is rightsized for a Third World market - and climate - but a production run of 50,000 in year one and a price tag of $240 make me wonder."

Yes, the price is too high -- and they know it. I think R7000 was the initial target, but they found they had to stop talking so much about low prices and poor peopel to get *anyoen* to build the damn thing. Indian V.C.'s aren't that different from V.C.'s anywhere: They want to see something they can make money on, and they don't see how they make money off poor people with this device.

As production runs increase, naturally, pricing should come down; and, too, development funding might push some of these devices out to the people it was designed for. Getting it out and on the market may start ot make it attractive in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Phillipines. Volumes can work wonders not just on price, but on attitudes (viz Bit).
Posted by: escoles@...   Posted on: 03/30/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Simputer debut  ahmad@... | 03/29/04
Your life better not depend on apps for Simputer  Anton Philidor | 03/29/04
Pray tell, Anton  Fred Fredrickson | 03/29/04
Prayer is answered  Anton Philidor | 03/29/04
you can have profitable proprietary sw based on open standards (nt)  stephen732@... | 03/29/04
"Name a profitable company built on open source."  escoles@... | 03/30/04
Only if they stop selling hardware & services (NT)  Anton Philidor | 03/30/04
See, you're half way there...  escoles@... | 03/30/04
I'm writing as fast as I can. Quit knocking so loudly.  Anton Philidor | 03/30/04
What about thier software that runs on Linux  voska | 03/30/04
How about Oracle and IBM  voska | 03/30/04
re: Your life better not depend o  Iain_Peters | 03/29/04
Think ambitiously  Anton Philidor | 03/29/04
re: Think amb...  Iain_Peters | 03/29/04
What makes sense, is...  escoles@... | 03/30/04
Pooh-poohing what you don't understand?  escoles@... | 03/30/04
No, pish-tushing what I've heard often.  Anton Philidor | 03/30/04
Your statements are not up to ....  navaltiger | 03/31/04
To expensive. Buy a real computer.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 03/29/04
Re: To expensive. Buy a real computer...??  ahmad@... | 03/29/04
wow - $500.00  V Sanders | 03/29/04
Think about what you just said...  AbsolutelyNot | 03/29/04
Amen!  kennethsf | 04/08/04
Bitty's miffed its not a Windows device  jellyclock | 03/29/04
Does India rule the world now?  newid2092@... | 03/29/04
No one forced you to read the story.  Robert Carnegie | 03/30/04
Quantity has a Quality all it's own  escoles@... | 03/30/04
Brain drain for financial gain...  xunil skcor | 03/30/04
Better get used to it...  Alpha_Female | 03/30/04
RE: this is WRONG  newid2092@... | 03/30/04
get a grip  think_hard | 03/30/04

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