Plenty of things
There was an outpouring of philanthropy and corporate generosity a few years ago. Leading providers of computer hardware and software came together to design and manufacture a cheap, hardy, and no-frills PC for poor people.
In a project titled, "One Laptop Per Child", Nicolas Negroponte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced the $100 laptop in 2006. Computer chip manufacturer AMD also unveiled a cheap Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) that same year.
And again in 2006, AMD's arch-rival Intel showcased its $250 Eduwise Laptop, also meant for the poor in the developing world.
Before you express your awe and gratitude at such unselfish generosity or rush to buy one of these gadgets for your pen-pal in Rwanda; know that all three projects have failed. When given to a sample population these low-cost computers were promptly returned because of their minimal functionality.
MIT's laptop constantly required a hand-operated crank to power itself, the PIC did not have most Windows features, and the Eduwise was too expensive for the very basic functions it performed. In fact the poor, for whom these devices were meant, "survive on less than a dollar a day" as we are constantly told....why would such people shell out hundred hard-earned bucks for a barely usable device?
At a conference the hand-cranked MIT laptop was showcased to delegates from the Third World.....each member was given the device free. But at the end of the conference the delegates left these devices behind since they had minimal functionality.
Motives
The manufacturers of the low-cost computing devices are big corporations with their eyes set on the poor in the developing world. But these are not eyes of benevolence or charity....their motives are surprisingly material and businesslike:
· The manufacturers in the west are banking on the aspirations of the poor in the Third World. Their objective is to advertise these "very cheap" devices and create a captive market.....of the 5 billion poor if only 1% bought these $100 devices that would still give revenue of $5 billion!
· As the poor people acquire a taste for computing and surfing the web, they will rely on the brand they currently use and are familiar with to upgrade. This will allow the big corporations to do brand building in new markets.
· In most countries the corporations are banking on Third World governments to provide the cash to finance their "benevolent" scheme. These governments can be pressured into doing something for the education of their people....and out of their education budgets be persuaded to shell out cash in order to provide these devices to their poor populace. Or they can be persuaded to take a loan for financing this scheme.....in either case the corporations end up making a financial windfall!
