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India's 'Simputer' tries Singaporean foothold
Monday, 01 December 2003, 20:30 IST
SINGAPORE: It is held up as an example of Indian ingenuity but is heavily taxed by the government.
Now, the technological potential of the Simputer (named as an acronym for the simple, inexpensive, multilingual computer) is getting pinned on a financial pact that might make it more affordable for this long-awaited device to be built in Singapore and imported into India.
This pocket-sized computing device was meant to be low-priced but versatile. Its prices, however, shot up from the initially promised price of under $200 (then approx 
9,000) to feature-rich models priced between 10,500 and 23,000.
Over the past one year, the Simputer team has been strengthening its business links with this hardware paradise and tiny city-state. Ravi Desiraju is the Singapore face of these endeavours.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Desiraju, 40, has been colleagues with others in the Simputer team, including Vinay, Mark and Shashank (known more popularly by their first names).
Says he: "Prior to this, I've been the founder of a Silicon Valley start-up that was trying to develop a voice-based access platform for the Internet. Something that overlaps with the Simputer. Just about everybody in the world knows how to use a telephone."
Through 2001, he kept tracking various kinds of developments -- right from hand-held devices to service providers. Then he ran into the Simputer. It was being developed by people whom he knew "very well" from his Bangalore days.
Desiraju, who has been in Singapore for a dozen years, is now CEO of the Singapore-based Encore Technologies (S) Pte Ltd.
In February 2002 a joint venture was signed with the Bangalore-based Encore Technologies. "Encore is the largest shareholder of my company. That makes for a continual commitment to this product, and a share in the fruits."
This electronics engineer with management training concedes that it might not be right to believe that the Simputer would be simply accepted "by the masses" once put in the market.
"We feel the device would first need to be adopted as a platform by various application and solution providers. These applications and services are what the end-user needs, not the device itself," says he.
Desiraju sees the Simputer having a "global appeal".
Singapore was chosen a year ago as the international launch pad for the Simputer. This was done for three reasons -- the global acceptability of a Made-in-Singapore brand, the commitments from the authorities there, and the reputation of that island nation as a hardware hub.
So far, some 2,000 Simputers have been sold globally. Prices range from $200 for a monochrome model to $350 for one with a coloured screen.
By early December, the Simputer hopes to go into its third generation product.
Recent changes include the capability to implement wireless networking (with a wireless attachment), and connectivity to a virtual graphics array screen, which would help linking up to a bigger screen or projector.
Linking to a bigger screen was found to be particularly helpful in schools, for instructor-led activity or for students to share their work.
In spite of the Indian government taking credit for this much-awaited product of Indian ingenuity, pressures on it are not being reduced.
"Duty impact on the product is about 42 percent. Even when manufactured in India, certain components attract duty," says Desiraju.
Prices of components are 20 percent lower in Singapore. So, ironically, whether the Simputer is produced in India or Singapore, it makes little difference to the end price, even if it's to be sold back in India.
Desiraju and his Simputer colleagues are now looking forward to an Indo-Singapore free trade agreement, which they expect to be signed in April 2004. This could make goods manufactured in Singapore free of duties back in India.
Source: IANS
9,000) to feature-rich models priced between 10,500 and 23,000.
Over the past one year, the Simputer team has been strengthening its business links with this hardware paradise and tiny city-state. Ravi Desiraju is the Singapore face of these endeavours.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Desiraju, 40, has been colleagues with others in the Simputer team, including Vinay, Mark and Shashank (known more popularly by their first names).
Says he: "Prior to this, I've been the founder of a Silicon Valley start-up that was trying to develop a voice-based access platform for the Internet. Something that overlaps with the Simputer. Just about everybody in the world knows how to use a telephone."
Through 2001, he kept tracking various kinds of developments -- right from hand-held devices to service providers. Then he ran into the Simputer. It was being developed by people whom he knew "very well" from his Bangalore days.
Desiraju, who has been in Singapore for a dozen years, is now CEO of the Singapore-based Encore Technologies (S) Pte Ltd.
In February 2002 a joint venture was signed with the Bangalore-based Encore Technologies. "Encore is the largest shareholder of my company. That makes for a continual commitment to this product, and a share in the fruits."
This electronics engineer with management training concedes that it might not be right to believe that the Simputer would be simply accepted "by the masses" once put in the market.
"We feel the device would first need to be adopted as a platform by various application and solution providers. These applications and services are what the end-user needs, not the device itself," says he.
Desiraju sees the Simputer having a "global appeal".
Singapore was chosen a year ago as the international launch pad for the Simputer. This was done for three reasons -- the global acceptability of a Made-in-Singapore brand, the commitments from the authorities there, and the reputation of that island nation as a hardware hub.
So far, some 2,000 Simputers have been sold globally. Prices range from $200 for a monochrome model to $350 for one with a coloured screen.
By early December, the Simputer hopes to go into its third generation product.
Recent changes include the capability to implement wireless networking (with a wireless attachment), and connectivity to a virtual graphics array screen, which would help linking up to a bigger screen or projector.
Linking to a bigger screen was found to be particularly helpful in schools, for instructor-led activity or for students to share their work.
In spite of the Indian government taking credit for this much-awaited product of Indian ingenuity, pressures on it are not being reduced.
"Duty impact on the product is about 42 percent. Even when manufactured in India, certain components attract duty," says Desiraju.
Prices of components are 20 percent lower in Singapore. So, ironically, whether the Simputer is produced in India or Singapore, it makes little difference to the end price, even if it's to be sold back in India.
Desiraju and his Simputer colleagues are now looking forward to an Indo-Singapore free trade agreement, which they expect to be signed in April 2004. This could make goods manufactured in Singapore free of duties back in India.
Source: IANS