India set to follow cheap car with £7 laptop

The government-developed computer prototype will assist in bridging the 'digital divide' between rich and poor
From Times Online
February 2, 2009
Rhys Blakely in Mumbai

India is poised to unveil the ultimate in credit-crunch computing: a 500 rupee (£7) laptop.

A government-developed prototype, due to be shown for the first time tomorrow, will mark the most ambitious attempt yet to bring computers to the developing world and to bridge the "digital divide" between rich and poor.

It is also the latest example of ultra-cheap engineering to emerge from the sub-continent. India has already given the world a 100,000 rupee (£1,420) car, the Tata Nano, and a super-basic £10 phone — goods that are now expected to find favour among relatively affluent Westerners as the global economic downturn bites. the rest