The $75 laptop

Pixel Qi, led by ex One Laptop Per Child CTO Mary Lou Jepson, is a "spin-out" from OLPC:

"What computing can be, the XO laptop was just the first step.  Pixel Qi is currently pursuing the $75 laptop, while also aiming to bring sunlight readable, low-cost and low-power screens into mainstream laptops, cellphones and digital cameras."

What is becoming clearer by the day is that the toughest "digital divide" nut to crack concerns connectivity rather than devices. Currently there is a commendable push in England to ensure that school pupils can be online from home irrespective of parental income. The price of devices is falling very fast, driven by the market and by the arrival of next generation devices like OLPC and the Asus EEE, which cost about as little as a middling mobile phone. Connectivity is a much bigger challenge, for at least reasons:

1. firstly, remote areas are still out of reach of broadband, and wireless coverage is concentrated on where there is money to be made;
2. the monthly cost of a connection remains stubbornly high;
3. poorer households often have no fixed line, nor the credit rating to obtain one, even if they could afford to pay;
4. municipal WiFi networks (which might provide free access to a basic service) have been less successful than anticipated in the places they've been tried.

Ultimately Internet access in a developed economy like the UK's must be seen simply as a citizen's entitlement, like getting a drink of mains water. The challenge for Governments and public authorities is to bring this about. (Maybe some kind of public/private partnership based on FON  - in which broad-band customers with local WiFi make this available to people nearby - or an equivalent of it, will provide one of the solutions).

Comments

[Ian Wild]

I agree with your analysis generally, and the point that without a connection a cheap laptop is pretty pointless. As it stands, unless the government is prepared to fund it, Net access is in the hands of the private sector and the first priority provision is to turn a profit.

As a result, we end up with proposals that don't really cut it. Things like access provided by housing associations are all good and well but are still supplied at to the associations at market rates. Globally it's even harder to fund the business behind providing connectivity.

In the UK, barriers to entry may be removed to an extent when BT finish rolling out 21CN, its Next Generation network. This is an IP Network that will provide a single point of access for voice and data at the exchange. What that should mean is the separate charges for Broadband activation and rental and phone line rental become a thing of the past. I say should because I expect it will still need regulatory and political pressure to make it happen.

I can't see WiFi being viable in it's current form, although I've yet to play with the new N standard. Wimax has potential, but I think the most likely path to decent quality access with a low entry cost could be 3G provided by the mobile networks. That won't cut it for high demand applications, but there are already some cheap mobile data plans on offer from a couple of the providers. (At least, they are cheap if you don't use them abroad!) Of course, the phone companies still want their money back so I can't see it being made very affordable for everyone for a long time to come.

The fact is that costs have tumbled for access, all be it with a loss of quality (even the best consumer ISPs in the country have many support and service horror stories told about them). That's nowhere near far enough to allow the sort of access that you've hinted at Seb, and I can't see much change unless there is radical intervention from politicians to ensure access for all.

I'll save my comments about http://www.thestar.co.uk/rotherham/Plan-to-boost-community-internet.3623270.jp for another time :-)

Ian

[Vicki Davis]

I live in a very poor county in remote Georgia USA and we are one of 7 counties that the governor of the state of Georgia has funded wireless access for. The entire counties will be covered with WiFi by the state... yes, politicians need to involved and I believe starting in poorly covered areas IS what they should do.

I traveled to this blog via Stephen Downes and am quite impressed and am mentioning you today in a blog post. Great observations.