India's premature $50 tablet little better than a prototype (opens in new tab)

Sigh. I wish people wouldn't do this. And by 'this' I mean screw up expectations so horribly.

What happens is that someone who doesn't really know anything about getting things manufactured announces a set of features and a price. Folks who do know about those things say "Are you insane? You can't make something with those specs for that price." And they get criticized for being so critical. And everyone makes happy noises about this new thing which those of us who have 'been around that block' know is pure fantasy. And then when it gets to be time to get real, the whole story comes crashing down and there are fingers being pointed and blame and lawsuits and weird names like JooJoo and stories of prototypes versus actual markets.

The reality is some idealistic novices fantasized about a really cheap tablet. The only problem is that the minimum cost to make a tablet is higher than that because of the laws of physics and the price of parts.

So how can we educate these people that these fantasies are not realizable in a less painful way?

Given this is a collaboration of a government agency, a technology school (also funded by the government) , its a start. Hardware in India is not cheap. Moreover quality hardware such as resistive displays used by Samsung or some such companies are a stretch if you keep the $50 price tag as a goal. Sure the media hype was a bit much, but the goal of inexpensive devices for the rural folks is a worthwhile one. Lets hope someone from the private sector takes it to the next level so that it can help the non-elites.

they should've left out the touch screen, and added a keyboard and touchpad to it. Make it a android powered "netbook". Without the touchscreen, it should lower their BOM cost a bit so they can pay for better hardware that matters like a faster CPU and more RAM.

Since it's meant to educate the lower class in India, having a keyboard will also allow them to learn typing.