When the Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal displayed a low- cost handheld computer promising a digital nirvana for millions of school children and impoverished Indians, global media took note. In this gizmo- hungry world, who would not line up to get a 35- dollar computer? As if that was not enough, the minister promised that in a few years, the poor could get this machine for just 10 dollars! The people’s computer highlighted India’s innovative prowess. It seemed like a continuation of the Nano story. Over the past few years, India has come to be seen as a nation with S& T capabilities now being harnessed through an emerging innovation movement.
This has attracted public and private enterprises as also individuals seeking solutions through creativity, ingenuity and improvisation.
The promise of this computer- for- the masses project must be kept. It will seek to bridge the digital divide and improve the life of the people. It will showcase India’s technological talent inspired by Indian humanism.
Skepticism
The success of the project will protect India’s brand image, as important in contemporary times as the honour of Mother India during the freedom struggle days.
Failure of a project with global appeal will harm India’s brand image.
Thus the Government should not become complacent because of the hype surrounding this tiny computer. It would do well to pay heed to some comments of sheer disbelief appearing in the technical press. The computer got called ‘ vaporware” and a “ Fake”. In a piece packed with cost calculations of the components, a techno- savvy expert wrote: “ Either the project has been made using materials sourced cheaper than anyone else can from Chinese suppliers, or they're using old components, which means, to quote Kit, ‘ the thing would perform like a bitch.’ Or may be they're making the components themselves from the carapaces of dung beetles and discarded bindis.” There is no point in feeling offended by what some may see as a racist slur. The skeptics have thrown a challenge. A boast about the significance of the red dot on an Indian woman’s forehead will not be a fitting reply. It will be given when millions of Indian school children carry this 35- dollar gadget in their school bags. It is for the Government to prove that the gadget displayed to the world on July 22, 2010 was not a “ fake.” That the challenge is formidable becomes obvious if one recalls the failure of similar projects in the past. The much- touted Simputer, dreamt up by outstanding Indian technologists in 1998 did materialise to win awards and global praise but then got vapourised in thin air.
The Government, once bitten, should have been twice shy. Premature publicity does not help but only runs the risk of diminishing the credibility of a project. The skeptics cannot be charged with maliciousness because they have been wisened by their past experience with a similar project in India. Eight years ago, grand official plans had centred on what was then seen as an inexpensive gadget ( priced at about 300 dollars). It was conceived and designed well, taking into account the specific requirements of India’s poor.
“ Amida Simputer” was unveiled with fanfare as a low cost hand- held multi- functional device based on free software Open Source Initiative. Its primary input was a touch- sensitive LCD display panel. It was based on GNU/ Linux Software technology that was open and modular. It enabled the use of smart card reader/ writer. Simputer was targeted as a shared computing device for a local community of users like village panchayats, village schools, kiosks and shopkeepers. It even had the text- tospeech capability in Indian languages.
Market
The concept was extremely attractive but translated into a manufactured product it lost some of its charm. The expected figures of sales and deployment were never realised. The product was later overtaken by developments in technology and manufacturing that to an extent robbed it of its price advantage. Consequently computing power eluded the masses. That computer proved the skeptics right. The experts involved in the development of the gadget regretted that “ ideas and technology alone do not make a success . . . you have to succeed in the market.” Of course, Simputer’s failure cannot be judged too harshly. It is the nature of this industry which keeps changing with lightening speed. Similar projects in the US have also had troubled history. This despite the fact that a combination of Silicon Valley’s creative power and Taiwan’s manufacturing capability today rules the world.
The history of such efforts, and not just in India, has been replete with products that floundered at the manufacturing stage or in the marketplace. The dream of innovators, even if it survives the first contact with the hard shop floor, often gets scattered in the winds of the market.
Computer development and manufacturing form a very complex area involving clever ideas, speedy decisions, innovation in farming out components and assembly work and gaining a foothold in an extremely competitive and volatile market.
Indian projects in low- cost computing will continue to face tough competition. The international business fortune hunters now keep a keen watch for products designed for the first generation of customers running into millions. The gigantic size of the market means mega bucks. Thus even a low- cost computer meant for school children has the potential of a big earner because of the astronomical numbers involved.
In the background lurks the conflict between rival operating systems, the votaries of open source vs. the owners of proprietary software. Apart from any genuine criticism of a shoddy attempt to venture into a hi- tech area, Indian projects often face some motivated attacks as in the area of defence research.
Lessons
The best defence against failure will be to anticipate and remove the obstacles cluttering the path from mind to market. For example, India has technical talent and cheap labour but its components base is weak. Till that is strengthened, the foundations for building the superstructure of hitech projects and products will remain somewhat hollow.
India’s much applauded IT industry has little to show in the area of product development.
It remains supremely satisfied with its revenue- earning innovative business models. It has neglected product innovation and remained less than competent in manufacturing for a competitive market.
India is known for individual talent but completing hi- tech projects calls for more than individual talent.
One hopes that the Government and the experts have learnt their lessons. India’s reputation as an innovative nation is at stake. One hopes the HRD minister’s enthusiastic announcement of a computer that could bridge the digital divide, does not turn out to be premature. To ensure that, his ministry must have a multi- disciplinary high- powered group to formulate a strategy based on inputs from technical, management and marketing domains.
It will take the Government’s political will, the IT industry’s commitment and a measure of innovative planning and organisation to see that this dream project does not flounder at the first contact with the shop floor or the marketplace. Otherwise, the skeptics will laugh louder. In its noble and difficult mission to provide an inexpensive computer to the masses, history must not be allowed to repeat itself.
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