251 - The $40 Indian tablet that could help bridge America’s digital divide - Washington Post

The $40 Indian tablet that could help bridge America’s digital divide

• BY VIVEK WADHWA 
• October 23 at 9:54 am

Students try out the tablet during a pilot test in Raleigh, N.C. (Photo courtesy of Shako Oteka)

When people think of Silicon Valley, they imagine a place where people are well-educated, well-to-do technologists.  Palo Alto has some of the most expensive real estate in the world — and innovation thrives there. But if you go on the other side of town to East Palo Alto you see poverty and despair. High school dropout rates are 65 percent and only 10 percent of its children go to college. Most don’t have access to basic computer technology.

It is no different in nearby towns such as Oakland and San Jose — and other parts of the United States.

This is particularly unconscionable given the tech industry is so desperate for talent that it has to scour the world. Bridging America’s digital divide would not only uplift disadvantaged communities, it could help solve Silicon Valley’s skills shortage.

Why don’t all children have laptops and tablets—which are as necessary today as are textbooks? Because these are too expensive. Laptops typically cost more than $500. The low-end iPhone 5C costs well over $500 without a carrier subsidy. The cheapest iPad, the mini, costs $300.  Every product upgrade by Apple, Samsung, and Dell just includes a faster processor and new features, but the prices don’t go down to the point that they are affordable by everyone.

The Indian government realized a few years ago that the technology industry had no motivation to cater to the needs of the poor. With low cost devices, the volume of shipments would surely increase, but margins would erode to the point that it wasn’t worthwhile for the big players. So, India decided to design its own low-cost computer.  In July 2010, the government unveiled the prototype of a $35 handheld touch-screen tablet and offered to buy 100,000 units from any vendor that would manufacture them at this price. It promised to have these to market within a year and then purchase millions more for students.

(Photo courtesy of Shako Oteka)

Three years later the Indian government delivered a 7-inch Android-powered tablet called “Aakash.” This had a processor as powerful as the first iPad, twice as much RAM memory, a LCD touchscreen which displays full-screen video, browses the web, displays eBooks, and plays video games. The manufacturer was a Canadian company, Datawind. The tablet is expected to be sold in the United States in early 2014.

I asked one of Palo Alto high school teacher Esther Wojcicki, to evaluate these tablets—to see if they were fit for American children.   Esther gave six $40 Aakash tablets to her students at Palo Alto High—where the children of Silicon Valley’s elite study. The results were surprisingly positive. Although the children found the tablets to be slower than their iPads, they were usable—and fun.

I asked another friend, philanthropist Chris Evans, to try these with the children that he was helping. Evans donated 100 Aakash tablets to Communities in Schools of Wake County of Raleigh, N.C. for its “Smart Summer” program—a summer camp for disadvantaged African-American children. This helps 4 to 14-year-olds prepare for their next year’s studies. They loaded the tablets with science and math apps donated by Mango Learning and textbooks by Bookboard.

Evans tells the story of when he visited one of the sites where the tablets were being used by 30 children. “They were all running different learning programs — some teaching math, others reading.  After a few minutes, one five-year-old proudly announced he had achieved “level four” in a game involving addition (I was told he’d started the day at level one).  The administrators told me that the kids in the room were already becoming proficient in the skills they would be learning in school the coming fall. They were excited that these kids, who can often find themselves at a disadvantage to their classmates, will start school actually better prepared than many who they’ll go to school with.”

The next step is teaching children to write computer code. Two pilots are planned, in Virginia and Silicon Valley.

The Virginia project is organized by former U.S. chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra and led by education non-profit, Virginia Advanced Study Strategies (VASS). There, six school districts including Prince William County — have enrolled 85 students in either of two free online coding courses — Team Treehouse, and Codecademy, with the offer of an Aakash tablet as an incentive for kids completing the course and developing an app. According to Chopra, VASS sees this as a step on its path for improving rural STEM employment, and will build on the project through its Department of Education i3 (invest in innovation) grant focused on building a shared responsibility between students, parents and school districts in better preparing the workforce for today’s jobs.

In Silicon Valley, Level Playing Field Institute, which was founded by Lotus Development Corporation founder Mitch Kapor along with his wife and business partner Freada Kapor Klein, is coming together with Silicon Valley Bank and AT&T to hold two hackathons to teach 250 low income kids of color to write code. The students, grades 6-12, will be given a new version of the Aakash tablet which has a cellphone built in as well as 3G access. They will be taught to write code, and asked to compete to develop the best tablet applications. Says Klein, “Let’s help them imagine themselves as creators of tech, not just consumers. We know from 10 years of running programs that there are tens of thousands of high school girls and boys from low-income communities of color that have the talent to compete in STEM fields at the highest levels — all we need to do is to unleash the waves of hidden talent”.  The project is also being supported by the Kapor Center for Social Impact of Oakland.

“This is a policy problem,” said Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker of the digital divide. ”This is an education problem. Most importantly in Silicon Valley and in tech hubs around the country, this is everyone’s problem.  We need to create a tech-savvy, highly skilled workforce to put people to work, stay competitive globally and to keep developing the technologies, medicines, devices and innovations that are solving human problems.”

The least we can do is give all children access to technology—the tablets, connectivity, mentors and support. We will not only lift millions out of poverty, but also expand our economy. As the experiments with the Indian tablets show, we already have the ability to do this.

242 - Affordable Technology To Bring Revolution In India - Silicon India

Affordable Technology To Bring Revolution In India

By SiliconIndia  |   Monday, 23 September 2013, 06:35 Hrs

All of this is going to become possible within the next two to three years as the cost of tablet computers and Smartphones drops to the Rs 1,500 level and internet access becomes cheaper and more widely available, according to Vivek Wadhwa of Times Of India.

The Indian government inadvertently triggered this revolution by sanctioning the Aakash tablet. It only ordered 1,00,000 unit, but the project got so much attention that it ended up lowering the expected base price of tablet technologies from the $400-500 that is common in the West to $35-50. This would not have happened on its own.

The manufacturer, Datawind, has become a leading tablet supplier in India and abroad. These have also been tested in American schools by disadvantaged communities and were proved to be viable.

Right now Android Smartphones by the companies like Karbonn, Micromax, Lava and others are offered at a price as low as 5, 000, and in future handsets may cost even less.

This will also trigger an e-commerce revolution that will make the U.S. dotcom boom look lame; the online shopping sites like flipkart.com, GoVasool.com may be huge like Amazon.com in U.S. Apps such as LocalCircles.com will connect neighborhoods and communities all over India, providing them with a way of solving common problems. And poorest of the poor can have new apps to teach skills and children all over India will start connecting and learning from each other. Technology will make it possible for any poor child to gain the same knowledge as the privileged anywhere in India and across the world.

And media and entertainment industry will also see a rapid change as with tablets and Smartphones becoming ubiquitous. Entrainment industries can rent the movies, and other videos online, and media may move from print to online.

241 - Affordable tablets will give the poor a voice By Vivek Wadhwa, TNN

Affordable tablets will give the poor a voice

By Vivek Wadhwa, TNN | 22 Sep, 2013, 11.37AM IST

After watching the news from India, one could easily come to the conclusion that the country has become more corrupt and its men have become more violent. Sadly, corruption and abuse of women aren't new to India. Corruption is a legacy of the British Raj.

Women all over the world are abused. What has changed is the ability of India's normally docile middle-class and its youth to speak up and demand change. That is what technology has made possible.

The technologies that allowed people to shame the government were cell phones, TV and social media. There is much more to come.

As the poor gain access to the internet through smartphones and tablets and the middle-class gets better connectivity, the country will witness nothing less than a revolution in commerce, education and social values.

Imagine villagers recording videos of bribe takers and uploading to sites such as Ipaidabribe. com, documenting the abuses they suffer at the hands of the police. Or students recording the attendance of teachers — who don't show up for work — on public websites. Or direct payments of subsidies and social benefits to the poor via Pay-Pal-style banking accounts, thereby cutting out corrupt government officials.

All of this is going to become possible within the next two to three years as the cost of tablet computers drops to the Rs 1,500 level and internet access becomes cheaper and more widely available.

The Indian government inadvertently triggered this tablet computing revolution by sanctioning the Aakash tablet. It only ordered 1,00,000 units and spent less than it would have on a junket of ministers going abroad. But this project got so much attention that it ended up lowering the expected base price of tablet technologies from the $400-500 that is common in the West to $35-50. This would not have happened on its own. Note the price of the Apple iPhone 5S. The cheapest models cost over $500.

The Aakash tablet has been mired in Indian politics, but is achieving big success in its new incarnations. The manufacturer, Datawind, has become a leading tablet supplier in India and abroad. These have also been tested in American schools by disadvantaged communities and were proved to be viable. Americans can't wait for these tablets to become available to them.

The uses of tablet technology will go far beyond giving the poor a voice. As India gets connected by fiber optic cable and mobile carriers expand data coverage, cheap tablets will find thousands of new uses.

To start with, these will trigger an e-commerce revolution that will make the US dotcom boom look lame. Companies such as GoVasool.com will become India's Amazon.com and there will be many of them. Apps such as LocalCircles.com will connect neighborhoods and communities all over India, providing them with a way of solving common problems.

There will be a revolution in education as courseware from all over the world becomes available to the poorest of the poor, new apps are developed that teach specific skills, and children all over India start connecting and learning from each other. Technology will make it possible for any poor child to gain the same knowledge as the privileged anywhere in India and across the world.

There will also be rapid changes in the media and entertainment industries as tablet devices become ubiquitous. Note how the media industry has changed in the US from print to online. The same will likely happen in India.

Cheap tablets connected to cheap sensors also open up opportunities to revolutionize health care and farming. And there will be apps for practically every task that requires the management of information. Imagine the neighborhood fruitseller emailing his customers photographs of his produce and accepting orders over the internet. Or booking rickshaws via apps like the US's Uber which does taxi rides. I won't be surprised if the poor figure out better uses of the technology than the rich do.

All of this seems like wishful thinking, but note how mobile phone usage grew exponentially in India — going from zero to 900 million devices within a decade. Tablets and internet usage will grow even faster and will have an even greater impact.

183 - Comment: India's tablet revolution - Vivek Wadhwa-Foreign Policy - SBS

Comment: India's tablet revolution

27 JUN 2013, 4:40 PM   -   SOURCE: VIVEK WADHWA, FOREIGN POLICY

Indian students in new Delhi are using the newly launched 'Akash' computer tablet which retails for US $46 USD. (Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty)

As the cost of devices drops and Internet access becomes universal, we are witnessing a new kind of revolution, Vivek Wadhwa writes.

India's ruling Congress Party was stunned by the magnitude of recent public protests. For the first time in recent history, India's normally docile middle class and its youth are speaking up over everything from the country's recent rape tragedy to the Congress Party's corruption. Social media and technology have empowered these segments of society in new ways. The digital world has enabled similar rebellions in China and the Middle East.

This is just the beginning, though. As the cost of devices drops and Internet access becomes universal, we are witnessing a new kind of revolution. 

Information used to be more localised. People were barely aware of the affairs of their own villages let alone in nearby towns or the rest of the country. Governments had the power to feed their citizens whatever propaganda they wanted them to know.

Now, however, people are more connected. Those in the poorest parts of the world are gaining access to an equivalent breadth of knowledge as those in the wealthiest parts. They are beginning to participate in the global economy, to learn from others, and to solve their own problems.

The first global communications revolution began with cell phones. Over a 10-year period the number of cellular subscriptions jumped from a few million to nearly 6 billion (or 87 percent of the world's population, according to The International Telecommunication Union). These made it possible for families to stay in touch when breadwinners travelled to cities and for workers to connect with employers. They allowed populations to discuss what was happening in different parts of the country and to exchange political views. And they allowed the disenchanted to organize demonstrations via text messages. 

The next step in this revolution is cheap tablets. India recently launched the Aakash tablet, which provides all the features of more expensive tablets. It has a processer as powerful as the first iPad, twice as much RAM, and an LCD touch screen. One hundred thousand of these devices have been purchased by the Indian government from a company called Datawind for $40 and are being provided to teachers and school children for a subsidized price of $20. 

Meanwhile, Datawind has sold 1 million of these commercially at a price of $60. CyberMedia Research says that within two quarters of its introduction, the Aakash tablet has leaped ahead of Apple in terms of market share in India.

To add to the increasing accessibility of technology and its benefit, India has launched an initiative to connect 250,000 villages via optical fiber cable. The fiber-optic lines will provide cheap, affordable Internet. Regardless of whether the government delivers on these plans, India's cell phone carriers already provide affordable data plans. Newer versions of Datawind tablets, or "phablets" as they are colloquially referred to, have cell phone capabilities and come with unlimited web access for Rs.100 (US$1.75) per month.

India's population currently has around 900 million mobile phones, which typically cost $30 or more. When the cost of the "phablets" reaches this price point, they will undoubtedly become the replacement device for cell phones. I expect that India, because of tablets, will have more than 100 million new Internet users in the next three years. This number will grow to more than 500 million within five years, and 1 billion by the end of the decade.

The Indian government has inadvertently started a revolution that will transform India and shake up the world. It has lowered the expected base price of tablet technologies to a range of $35 to $50. Chinese vendors are competing with Datawind to bring production costs below $35. 

Cheap tablets will make it possible for farmers to watch weather reports, for village children to access MIT courseware, and for artisans to sell their goods online. These will also enable the development of Silicon Valley-style apps to transact commerce, play games, and manage bus and train schedules. Don't be surprised to see villagers developing apps that solve their own unique problems. 

Add some sensors that read a person's vital signs to these devices and connect isolated villagers to physicians over Skype, and you can provide desperately needed medical advice. This isn't wishful thinking. I asked Alivecor, which has developed an FDA-approved iPhone case that monitors heart rhythms, to test a credit card-sized version of their device with low-end Aakash tablets. Their founder Dr. Dave Albert told me it worked flawlessly. Albert's goal is to sell a version of this device in India for a cost comparable to the price of the tablet. This will provide the same functions as expensive EKG monitors. There are hundreds of such sensor-based medical devices in development all over the world.

It is only a matter of time before $49 tablets are also commonly available in the West. This will wreak havoc on the global PC, laptop, and smart phone industries. It will decimate profit margins as the number of cheap tablets in use increases exponentially and prices continue to drop. There will be thousands of new uses for these inexpensive tablets. Expect to see them in your cars, houses, restaurants, schools, and even at church. There will be billions of interconnected devices.

There will be 3 billion more people coming online in this decade. Never before has humanity been connected this way. With ubiquitous access to Internet-capable devices, the poor and the rich will have the same access to information. The lower classes will be able to educate themselves, learn about the latest advances in agriculture and farming, find out the real value of the goods they produce, and take advantage of e-commerce. They will be able to tell the world about the bribes they paid and the abuses they suffered at the hands of corrupt government officials. They will be empowered just as the Indian middle class has been.

Most importantly, the rising billions will be able to participate in global discussions and exchanges of ideas. Imagine village-developed apps showing up in our app stores. Imagine young Einsteins emerging from the villages of Kenya, Columbia, and India -- offering solutions to medical and scientific problems posed by Harvard researchers. These geniuses do exist. 

This is all going to be a reality sooner than you think.

95 - How the Aakash tablet bounced back - Vivek Wadhwa

21st September 2012

How the Aakash tablet bounced back

By Vivek Wadhwa, Published: September 21, 2012 E-mail the writer

Internet-connected tablets, as I’ve explained before, have the potential to positively impact billions. Cell phones improved commerce and changed society by allowing, among other things, the poorest villagers in the developing world to connect with one another. The Internet will catalyze the next leap forward by providing those in the developing world access to the same ocean of knowledge as those in wealthier societies. This will transform education and revolutionize commerce.

When India announced its $35 Aakash tablet roughly two years ago, it made front-page news. From the specs, it was clearly a rudimentary device for those unable, perhaps, to afford an iPad or top-of-the-line smartphone. And like every first version of a new technology, the tablet had problems. The Indian media quickly and mercilessly trashed it, with top publications writing the tablet’s obituary.

Vivek Wadhwa

Vivek Wadhwa is Vice President of Innovation and Research at Singularity University and Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. His other academic appointments include Harvard, Duke and Emory Universities as well as the University of California Berkeley.

(VentureBeat) - The earlier version of the Aakash, pictured here, was widely panned. Version 2, however, received largely positive reviews. Vivek Wadhwa tells the story of how the tablet rebounded and his role in its recovery.

In October 2011, I met India’s education minister Kapil Sibal at a State Department-hosted event in Washington, D.C. I asked if the Aakash would ever become a reality. He insisted it would and gave me his own tablet. He also shared his vision for the Aakash – one in which the tablet would revolutionize education.

I was impressed but worried. Aakash was clearly a breakthrough — an Internet-enabled device at an incredibly low price point. But it was not good enough for the target market of first-time technology users. It also wasn’t robust enough. I wrote to Sibal suggesting that he “declare victory” and discontinue this model, then allow the manufacturer of the Aakash, Datawind, whose CEO I was introduced to by Pentium chip inventor Vinod Dham, to provide a better product for the same price. I suggested he call this “Aakash 2.” I had also convinced Datawind CEO Suneet Tulli that this made economic sense.

So, after the drubbing by the media and a political backlash, Sibal followed my advice.

But I was all but certain that, after reading Indian newspapers and extensive criticism from Indians on Twitter that, no matter how good this device was, Indian politics would triumph and the device would die a fast death. Based on my previous experience, I was convinced that no Indian reviewer would have the courage to say anything nice, and the negative publicity would build on itself.

In light of this, I asked Tulli to ship me a handful of Aakash 2 units—hot off the manufacturing line—to New York, where I was speaking at an education conference. I showed it to attendees whose responses were overwhelmingly positive. I also gave the tablet to tech journalists I knew, all of whom worked for publications to which I have previously contributed pieces. They too were blown away by the tablet. TechCrunch’s Greg Ferenstein lauded the device’s capabilities, writing that “success could mean a fully literate world, connected to all the knowledge necessary to pull the poorest people out of despair.” VentureBeat’s Christopher Peri wrote that “despite the drawbacks, for just $60, I want this device!” Forbes’ Alice Truong concluded the device was “world changing indeed.”

The best part is that these devices aren’t just for the bottom of the pyramid. They will cause tablet prices to drop worldwide as competitors jump into the fray. I have no doubt that, by the end of next year, we will see $50 tablets in the United States. These will transform education and commerce here as they stand to do abroad.

In the wake of these positive reviews, the Hindustan Times’s Yashwant Raj wrote that I “might have indeed saved the device from a premature demise,” but that “for now, the real challenge lies ahead.” I couldn’t agree more.