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[India] Now Simputer goes retail
May 12, 2003
Now Simputer goes retail
BANGALORE: The palmtop for poor people has finally made it to
retail sales in India with public sector giant Bharat Electronics
Limited (BEL) and the start-up of Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
professors Picopeta Simputers on Friday announcing market entry of
the product.
Details of price, retail strategy and brand positioning of the
Simputer were still being worked out and would be made public soon, a
BEL spokesperson said.
"The unique technologies developed by Picopeta Simputers makes
the BEL-Picopeta Simputers as easy to use as pen and paper," Picopeta
Simputers chief technology officer Prof V. Vinay said.
Prof Vinay is one among the four IISc colleagues who developed
this product along with techies from city infotech firm Encore, under
a Simputer Trust project.
BEL tied up with Picopeta Simputers last year to manufacture and
market a range of Simputers, which had gained world attention as a
versatile hand-held device that could be priced at less than Rs
10,000.
Simputer, that can wrap up a bundle of applications including
programmes for rural micro-credit banking, storing farm data and for
literacy lessons on a Linux platform, won international acclaim and
media attention for its simplicity.
Simputers captured the attention of the public at the ongoing PC-
expo in the city and BEL managers said that the Indian market was
ready for a quality product off the beaten track.
"We are enthused about the new market opportunities," BEL CMD
V.K. Koshy said.
Recently, the Karnataka government roped in BEL, which won a
tender to supply Simputers for the extended version of the award-
winning e-governance project 'Bhumi'.
"The challenge no longer is a technological one but one
concerning marketing and retail distribution," Picopeta CEO Swami
Manohar said.
source:
http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEK20030510131603&Title=So
uthern+News+-+Karnataka&rLink=0
