Affordable Innovations

Shaply contrasting with MIT's $100 laptop, academic institutions in India (IITs and IISC) have combined forces to co-create a prototype laptop with all bells and whistles at one-third the cost. This innovation much like the Tata Nano is considered ground-breaking due to its affordable price-point (now at $35). The design makes use of memory-card and touch screen much like an iPhone or a tablet PC. The laptop can work on solar power and is likely to use Linux operating system. Their current plans are to drive the cost further down to $10 and mass produce by 2011.



Yet another innovation comes from NotionInk's Adam (http://www.notionink.com/) that is feature rich and well-positioned to compete with Ipad with its current price point around $370. Adam uses nVidia Tegra-2 dual-core CPU, a 10-inch transreflective LCD PixelQi screen, and a 3 megapixel autofocus swivel camera. It supports Wi-Fi, 3G, multiple OS and browsers operating on batteries upto 16 hours.

These innovations strive to influence affordability and global consumption experience through diligent combination of technologies. Contrast these with other developments such as Sixth Sense (about an year ago), Mobile 3-D, and jaw-dropping sneak peak technologies shown at CES-2010.