President springs a surprise on Simputer makers

Monday, 29 March 2004, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam sprang a surprise Friday evening when he telephoned from New Delhi to compliment the manufacturers of India's first Simputer, or simple computer. To the delight of the 500-odd people present at a function organised to announce the gadget's commercial production, Kalam's sonorus voice was heard on a mobile phone, enquiring keenly about the state-of-the-art product. The president wanted to know about its operating system, whether it worked on the Global Positioning System and about its other features. Responding to the president's queries were the four Indian Institute of Science (IISc) scientists who indigenously designed and developed the cost-effective device, apart from Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) chairman and managing director Y. Gopala Rao and IISc supercomputer centre head N. Balakrishnan. Amida Simputer, as the device is branded, is a product of PicoPeta Simputers Ltd and BEL. Expressing happiness over the indigenous product, Kalam told the partners producing Amida commercially that they must go on upgrading, and at the same time ensure the promised quality cost-effectively and deliver it to the market on time. "When people require your product and the market demand goes up, you must be able to roll it out on time and maintain the quality mentioned on it," Kalam advised the partners. Lauding the four IISc scientists for conceiving, designing and developing the product indigenously, Kalam said he was proud of the institute for turning such gifted people into entrepreneurs, who set up PicoPeta Simputers Ltd. Kalam's child-like innocence, his trademark queries and appreciative words drew loud applause and cheers from the audience.
Source: IANS