[huridocs-tech] Simputer Gets Its Final Touches at the Factory

[***This message was originally posted on the Global Knowledge for 
Development List, Mod.***]

IT'S SIMPLE, THE SIMPUTER GETS ITS FINAL TOUCHES AT THE FACTORY

By Frederick Noronha

QUITE SOME TIME after it first attracted global attention for the
boldness of its goals, the Simputer is slowly marching past finishing
line. Some look at it with skeptism; others with hope.

Could this simple computing device -- at least in some small way --
challenge the logic of the market, and underline the need of IT reaching
out to the poor? If US-returned Indian scientists can dare to dream to
boldly -- despite the many difficulties en route -- could IT really
reach out to meet the needs of the commonman, instead of simply
mimicking Western trends and rushing where profit margins are maximum?

"The poor are a largely neglected market, but they too have a huge
commercial potential," argues Vinay L Deshpande, the chairman and CEO of
the Bangalore-based Encore Software. Deshpande, till a few weeks back,
was also the the president of the New Delhi-based MAIT, the association
of IT manufacturers.

Besides being involved in the design of the Simputer, Deshpande has now
gone on to found one of the firms producing this piece of hardware that
technology-watchers in India have been playing close attention to.

"But for IT to be meaningful to the hundreds of millions of poor across
India, it needs certain attributes. It should be low-cost, simple to
use, and technology should also be 'de-mystified'," argues Deshpande.

Besides, he argues, hardware in an Indian context need to run
"independent" of the often-unreliable mains-power. It should be rugged
and dust-resistant to cope with the heat and dust of this tropical
country.

Above all, it should be sharable -- just like other costlier gadgets
(ranging from refrigerators to a jeep doing a distant trek) are shared
in rural areas.

"In India, technological devices are not owned but shared. If your
neighbour does not have a fridge, it automatically means he has the
right to keep the milk in your fridge. Same is the case with TVs," says
Deshpande.

Using a smart-card, the Simputer hopes to be sharable. "Even if a
Simputer costing Rs 10,000 is too costly for a rural dweller, ten
villagers could come together to own that," says he, optimistically.

To make the Simputer easier to use, it incorporates icons, graphics and
multi-lingual abilities. It also seeks to offer image/sound output and a
touch-based input with voice feedback. "We hope to use it as a means to
address all the population of India, not just literates," argues
Deshpande.

Proponents of the Simputer like Deshpande believe that this tiny piece
of equipment could also help rural Indians find ways of earning a better
living.

"We hope that, in time, a villager could connect a Simputer at a
pay-phone booth (which are common across India), dial up to a website,
fetch the information about the best price payable for his potatoes
using a very simple interface. This would be converted into speech and
played back," says he.

It could make life simpler too.

Even a village postman could take across this small device, and make
payments of 'money orders' -- the instrument which have been a popular
way of transmitting money across rural India for decades. Using the
smart cards, this delivery could be made simpler and far quicker too,
argues Deshpande.

Likewise, he says, the Simputer would have applications for education
and literacy. Given its fairly high resolution 240 x 360 pixels screen,
for its small size, it could be used for local language applications.

One new application currently being worked on is using Simputers to
check the health of mothers and foetus. It is hoped that portable
ultrasound sensors could be suitably adapted to connect with Simputers,
says Deshpande.

Other applications for the Simputer are being worked out in the field of
health and telemedicine; micro-banking; police work
(information-retrieval, filing of first-information reports);
land-records; meter reading; e-governance; and ticket-collection.

"We've been getting a tremendous response from all over the world," says
he. Some unexpected interest has also resulted in the Simputer project
going further than initially planned.

 From Italy has come an idea to link up the Simputer with a low-cost
video camera. Using OCR (optical-character recognition) software, it
plans to covert text to speech, and use this as a reader for the
visually impaired.

Two other entrepreneurs want to use the Simputer to control solar
lighting and gobar gas plants in the villages. But these are only at the
planning stage still.

It's easy to develop more applications for the Simputer; and one's
imagination is the only limitation. Even before the Simputer hits the
market, one can develop applications for it, using the GNU/Linux
interface.

Critics of the Simputer have suggested that the falling costs of other
hand-held computing devices make this not so useful. "Compared to other
hand-helds, this one has a USB port, built-in modem, smart-card support,
higher amounts of memory in addition to its low cost," says Deshpande.

He also argues that it tries to reduce language barriers to computing,
and will offer 'minimal' trouble in entry of form-based data, due to the
smart-card interface, which would store profiles of each user.

Now, the Simputer has tried to be flexible by working on differing
models. Companies producing the Simputer are suppling these to bulk
buyers, though those wanting it in smaller quantities have had to wait
longer than expected.

"We're working on units with low and high memory, and with varieties of
screen resolution, both low and high. Besides, we are also planning a
built-in battery backup. Some units plan to come with their own battery
charger," says Deshpande.

If all goes well -- and the scientists and technologists at Bangalore
have -- no plans to give up, there are plans for a Simputer with its own
cradle, says Deshpande, as he shows of how the look and feel of the
Simputer has changed across various models.

"Encore's Simputer will offer a simple e-mail client, a browser, and
software for file transfer, MP3s, regional language usage and smart-card
sample application," says he. Besides, Simputer is working to have
"fairly thorough application development support".

One handicap is that the success of the Simputer (and its price) would
depend on what quantities it can be produced it. "Price is a function of
manufacturing volumes," says Deshpande. In other words, a
chicken-and-egg dilemma: more production, lower prices. But lower prices
are needed first to step up demand for higher production.

Currently, industry taxes and duties total 20-30% of the total cost of
the Simputer. This includes Indian Customs, countervailing duties,
Central Excise. This would mean that the final price of the Simputer now
would range from Rs 10,500 to Rs 23,000 (for a deluxe colour model with
96 MB memory).

Incidentally, in India, the delays to put out the Simputer in the market
have led to some pessimism. But, elsewhere, the potential of this dream
is already being realised.

In December 2001, the New York Times called the Simputer the most
significant technological innovation of the period. India's Ministry of
IT has also awarded the first Dewang Mehta Award to this initiative.

"We have dared to try and build them. It is now for you as users to come
and ask for them," says a determined Deshpande. Quite a few of the key
proponents of this venture happen to be returned expat Indians, dreaming
of a chance to share the fruits of technology with their less fortunate
countrymen.



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