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$35 Tablet Computer?

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by c f usa 1 view

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Ran across this article today http://www.taranfx.com/worlds-cheapest-tablet and it was an interesting, albeit short, read into what will be the future of technology solutions.

It makes me ponder two points;
- Open source development on a wide scale (not only software). Sharing of ideas and creating a product for the better good of all, not just one group.

- Cost of production. If this in fact going to cost only $35 with the features it claims, why does the Kindle and E-Book readers cost hundreds of dollars

11 replies

by jck

Despite years of hardware development already having been paid for times over, Amazon, Apple, et al., will still proclaim costs of R&D like they are developing the product from scratch every time.

They are driving their bottom line here.

Don't believe it? Go sometime to Asia, and see what you can buy a shirt there for which is the same kind you'd get at Wal-Mart...for about 1/6 the cost.

Consumer products entering USA = immediate 200-500% markup over production/shipping costs.

I tell you. If I had the capital, I could start companies in the poor, rural areas of the USA and make cheap things and put half those foreign companies out of business.

by dawgit

The Hardware costs, from what I've read. The most expensive being the screen. The interview did say it shouldn't be more than 20$ (US) when it's actually in production run. Remember that all the cheep stuff comes from countries that are in direct competition with India, so India won't get any bargains. As opposed to the US, which is a product end point and no longer a competitor with places like China.
You are correct in that it could be done inexpensively in the US, but manufactures want to make the big $'s by shipping the actual manufacture off-shore.

by charliespencer

Anybody remember an article by a TR staffer about her attempts to procure one of the cheapie laptops a spammer was pushing from Eastern Europe? It was back in '07 or '08, but I don't remember who it was. Did she ever get it?

by hal 9000

At one of their Higher Education Facilities as a Proof of Concept device originally. They then went further and built a Prototype which could be mass produced quite easily using commonly available components.

The Indian Government is wanting a Large Scale Manufacture to take on the Building of these devices and in the short term at least is offering to Subsidize their Building for their people as a incentive to Companies to start mass producing these devices.

With the Bulk of the Computer Building/Making Industry being tied up with M$ and unable to build devices like this it is a Logical Step to Take.

Naturally if someone with enough capacity was to build these things they would be like the iPad a instant winner and a Throw Away device. The basic unit with out a HDD is designed to be incorporated with the Cloud so just right now the Building and deployment is intended to be a complete Package that the company building these devices is involved in.

To that end it's not just a straight forward step to build a better Mouse Trap there is more involved than just building the small form factor cheap throw away device and introducing it to the market.

Col

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