Simputer, Hovering between Hope and Impatience

Sitting in the palm of my hand, the
Simputer, emerging from the tech city of Bangalore, India, has
generated a mix of hope and pessimism that few hardware products
from India ever have. But will the Simputer work as
promised?The Simputer is a simple, inexpensive, multilingual
GNU/Linux-based computing device. Models of it already are making
the rounds. In fact, Media Lab Asia, which functions out of the
Indian city of Mumbai, has placed orders for 200 Simputers. And the
search is underway for how to build suitable applications for
Simputer-users.This computing device has garnered interest from outside
India and other third-world countries. For example, a German man
who previewed the device wrote on the Simputer board that his
"first impression is very good. Very good programming style and
documentation."Not surprisingly, after years of attention and headlines,
even when on the drawing-board, the Simputer teams' fatigue is
beginning to show. While the finish-line seems close for some, for
others, disappointment over not meeting an on-sale target date of
fourth quarter 2001 is further proof that the product is
vaporware.On the Yahoogroups! mailing-list set up for the Simputer
project, over a thousand members hopefully monitor the progress.
But the inability of techies--especially techies from this part of
the globe--to explain things to a non-technical audience has left
everyone wondering about exactly what is going on.Some months from now, we'll know who's right. What's at
stake, though, is not only a promised product, but a valiant battle
to drastically shift the debate over what role IT should play in
India.The Simputer project has helped make the point that
affordable solutions for countries like India will have to come
from those countries themselves. It also has made clear that
Indians have the skill and talent, if not the optimism, to develop
such a product..The story of the Simputer is not simply a matter of price,
though this is an important issue, and whether it could meet its
promised production schedule. Many other vital issues have come up.
But while the Simputer experiment is being watched closely across
the globe, a certain amount of impatience is visible from within
India.In early March 2002, Reuters reported that the low-cost,
hand-held computer developed by seven Indian engineers to take the
Internet to rural masses would start rolling out in May. Originally
expected to cost $200, it would now cost $50 more, as stated by
Vinay Deshpande, chief executive of Bangalore-based Encore
Software. In addition, some Indian critics of the Simputer
questioned whether the product would click with its audience at
all.Lowering CostsMuch of the Simputer's fate depends on what the final price
turns out to be. Many of its advantages are premised on the fact
that it would cost about one-third the price of a PC and about the
same price as a colour TV set. If buyers could be convinced it's a
useful tool, the Simputer could reach millions of people who
previously were untouched by computing devices.Prof. Swami Manohar, CEO of the Bangalore-based PicoPeta
Simputers Pvt Ltd, told me that progress is at a hectic pace these
days. "The primary challenge is funding. However, we are hopeful of
solving that problem. The good news is with the Simputer licensing
model, there are now two companies competing to provide Simputers:
PicoPeta and Encore. So there is now a challenge to keep prices
down and improve quality," he said.PicoPeta's first field trial and first funded project were
expected to begin in July. Manohar says that they "will be
deploying about 75 Simputers, one per panchayat, in the district of
Mahasamund. This project is funded by the South Asia Foundation and
is actively supported by the state government."The BasicsDeepRoot Linux CEO Abhas Abhinav argues that one needs to
understand the Simputer's main features in order to see the full
scope of the project. Those features include text-to-speech
synthesis in Indian languages, a pen-based input method (called
tap-a-tap), portable Palm-sized footprint, Linux powered, open
hardware licensing and the smart-card interface, among others.
Abhinav notes that "the intended use of these features (and hence
the Simputer) is in rural areas.... The text-to-speech features,
portable size and low power requirements are meant to be of immense
use to people in these areas." Other suggested application are for
micro-banking applications, rural commerce and micro-credit
applications.For all of its promise, Abhinav points out the Simputer would
cost Rs 9000 only in quantities of "hundred thousands". So, if
scale is not attained, he feels the Simputer's utility is likely to
be hit by its high price and its low availability of
software.But he does believe that the Simputer has an edge over other
Palmtops. "Palmtops can't compute in Indian languages because they
don't have text-to-speech interfaces for Indian languages", he
notes. The Simputer team, however, does have a lot of focus on
low-cost, mass-market computing--more than any other project or
initiative. This could translate into the spawning of many more
similar projects, resulting in greater innovation in this
area.Abhinav does wish the Simputer developers had spent more time
and money convincing others to design software for the Simputer. He
suggests that more of the investment could have gone into usable
interfaces, with less emphasis on specialised hardware. But he
feels scalability issues of the Simputer could pose problems, as
"there is little scope for further hardware expansion, and software
is limited by this as well." He continues:Simputer's utility, therefore, is dependent upon
how efficiently the Simputer group can turn the technological value
of the product into something tangible for the masses as well...
what we have today is a great technological base for doing these
wonderful things, but no really usable applications to use
it.Guntupalli Karunakar, who works on GNU/Linux-based Indian
language solutions, argues that the Simputer has potential as a
shared community device through its smart-card interface. "But it
all depends on the number and variety of applications that can be
run on it", he says.One reason I think that has prevented Simputer
coming into market early on is because major components (processor,
memory, LCD display, etc.) are not easily available in local
markets, and have to be imported. That too, in bulk. So I can't
build one of my own even if I have the money. If the raw materials
were available locally, we would probably have had DIY Simputer
kits if not complete Simputers.Karunakar voices concern over the fact that because no
immediate will be seen, existing players really don't want to take
the risk or waste time and money on it. "They either find the
product uninteresting or are waiting for the small players (read:
Picopeta/Encore ) to take it to the critical mass level, If it
succeeds then they will jump in with all their might", he
argues.Most Haven't Seen OneAttention to the Simputer is coming from far and wide,
although the lack of hardware in the market mean that few people
actually have seen a Simputer.Dietrich Mueller-Falcke is a German researcher who did his
PhD on the use of ICTs in small businesses in India. He presented
the Simputer as an "innovative idea to bring information to the
poor" at the annual meeting of Euforic, a European Development
Policy group, that was attended by the European Commissioner for
Development and Humanitarian Aid.Comparing a Simputer with a PDA would be unfair, he feels,
because with a PDA one still would need to attach a mobile phone to
get on-line. But, he adds that the Simputer needs to hit the market
speedily, "because the PDA market is developing rapidly and with
the advent of GPRS and UMTS in Europe, and new functionalities soon
will be added to these devices".Bruce Girard, a researcher and coordinator of Comunica, a
network specialising in the convergence of independent broadcasting
and new media. is optimistic too. He notes:The Simputer has design features that make it
well-suited to be shared-use machine. The way that low-cost
smartcards have been incorporated into the design, for example,
means that, 1) your data is kept securely in your own card, rather
than on a network, and 2) configuration settings are portable. This
means that if you use the Simputer in the library, at school, in a
public call booth or in another town, you will always have your own
interface and data at hand.This, he says, opens up new application potential in schools,
medical facilities, public booths and so on.Hardware Innovation?Given this background, should a country like India go in for
greater hardware innovation? Researcher Bruce Girard has no doubts
that it should. He says, "India has a distinct set of problems that
often are best addressed with distinct technology. Unlike many
smaller countries, it has the human capital pool and the market to
allow it to embark on technology paths that will serve its needs
better than those imported from the US or Europe."Girard contends that successful technologies developed for
use in India also will help other less-industrialised countries
that share the same infrastructural problems. Some who have long
argued that India needs to find its own solutions to boost low-cost
telephony, now say that the country simply has to go in for a
greater degree of hardware innovation.Ashhar Farhan, for one, strongly believes that India needs to
go in for more hardware innovation, his critique of the Simputer
approach notwithstanding. He says he would like to see "a
completely GPLed microprocessor design that is scalable (like SUN's
Sparc), open and free (like some legacy processor cores) and small
(RISC-based), so that ordinary university students can afford to
get some silicon from their pocket money". He adds, "The road to
hardware innovation is necessarily through the Simputer. It is an
exciting and important milestone in Indian IT history."But Dr. Arun Mehta sees the situation differently. He is
upset by the "unfortunate attitude" in India that expresses itself
in some variation of the question, "If this is such a great idea,
how come nobody else is doing it?" He says, "We seem to mistrust
home-grown technology. In addition, our projects often don't have
the financial backing for the long haul. The market in this country
is small, and unless we immediately look at marketing on a global
level (which needs tremendous marketing muscle), we're out of the
picture."Global Internet Policy Initiative managing director Eric S.
Johnson argues that innovation in India has much to lose from "the
lack of an infrastructure that would encourage an increase in
communications capacity". Instead of the government trying to "milk
the communication sector for revenue", opening up a local loop
(wired or wireless), the 2.4-GHz frequency, VoIP, intercity
dialing, mobiles and the like would yield rich returns.So, all in all, has the Simputer been over-hyped? One
supporter says that, compared to other IT news items. "I would say
that there has not been enough press at all (internationally).
Simputer is not only company or a specific computer--it is first
and foremost an idea, a concept that needs as much press coverage
and criticism as possible."Abhas Abhinav of DeepRoot Linux says what favourable press
there is has been well deserved. "At least the focus has shifted to
low-cost computing for the masses. On that matter their objectives
were clear and remarkable, as is much of their work", says
Abhinav.For the future, Prof. Manohar says PicoPeta currently is
making progress along three fronts, keeping its focus as a Simputer
solutions company:

• Deployment of the Simputer platform: Extensive
  testing of the Simputer solutions in areas as diverse as citizen
  empowerment, education, microbanking, rural marketing and brand
  management for FMCG companies, etc. "These field trials will be
  leveraged to generate large demands for Simputer solutions", says
  Manohar.
• Building alliances and partnerships: PicoPeta is
  building a strong ecosystem by means of partnerships and alliances.
  For example, Markel Foundation and GraffitiWorkz, both in the US,
  are targeting the e-book market and are interested in the
  Simputer.
• Product and technology development: Improving the
  current product in terms of both price and performance, enhancing
  the feature set of the Simputer and building advanced versions.
  Several software tools, including improved IML browsers, IML
  content creation tools and synchronization of the Simputer with
  PCs, have been developed and will be tested out in the field
  trials.

Closely WatchedEven within South Asia, where neighbours often are often
friends due to political differences, the Simputer experiment is
being closely watched. M. Khalid Rahman, editor of Dawn
Sciencedotcom, the weekly feature magazine of
Dawn, Pakistan largest daily, is upbeat about
the Simputer. He says, "the Simputer is basically a poor man's
computer, and it provides all the basic functions of a computer
while giving the price edge to the users."Rahman argues that in all the SAARC countries, a special
branch of "affordable" technology should be dedicated to developing
affordable applications and innovations to suit the pocket of the
common man. To this end, he believes the Simputer is "a landmark
achievement, opening new vistas of affordable technology".As Rahman points out, we in the subcontinent have been
falling short of the promise of a number of IT-for-development
projects because "our governments fail to think objectively, and
our entrepreneurs are mainly interested in making money by all
means, fair and unfair".Swedish journalist and researcher, Kerstin Lundell, who was
recently in India to study IT-for-development projects, says the
Simputer seems like it would be a good tool for travelers in rural
areas. She says its promised low cost would be one major
attraction."Basically, I think it's great and I want it to work", said
one US-based researcher, who has been following the potential of
this IT-for-development project for a long time. With the skeptics
cynical and the optimists ever-hopeful, it's anyone's guess how
this promised wonder-product from India will shape up.Frederick Noronha is a
freelance journalist in Goa, India.

email: fred@bytesforall.org