Cheap Simputer, $35 Laptop & Now $25 Smartphone for Indians – Dream On, Baby

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$25 Firefox OS Smartphones Unlikely
The tech world generates more hype than Bollywood babes Katrina Kaif, Sonakshi Sinha and Deepika Padukone combined.

If you listen to the tech mavens, the Utopia of cheap and wonderful gadgets is always just around the corner for Indians.

A decade back, the made in India Simputer was all the rage.

Pundits prophesied that the Simputer would bring the magic of computers to every Indian village, town and city. Well, as we now know Simputer turned out to be like Bollywood actress Gul Panag’s political career. Failed to lift off from the launch pad.

Then there was the Congress idiot Kapil Sibal babbling about the $35 laptop.

Ha ha ha! The $35 laptop was like the Congress party at the 2014 elections – a total dud.

$25 Firefox OS Smartphone

Now it’s the turn of Firefox OS to jump on the runaway hype train.

If you believe all the stuff about Firefox OS smartphones phones, they’re going to be available for $25 and targeted at  several countries including India.

I kid you not about the $25 device. That’s the claim of Firefox browser developer Mozilla, the folks behind Firefox OS.

Here’s what Mozilla’s COO Jay Sullivan said in February 2014 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona:

We are also enabling a whole new category of smartphone, priced around $25, that will bring even more people around the world online.

Coming to India

The latest buzz is that Indian mobile companies Intex and Spice will be bringing the Firefox OS smartphone to India in a few months.

These phones are to be based on chip-sets from Chinese vendor Spredtrum.

I bet – if these Firefox OS phones are ever introduced in India – they’ll be nowhere near $25.

I’d be extremely surprised if indeed a Firefox smartphone is available for $25 in India anytime in 2014 or even next year.

I’m talking of a mobile phone that can make and receive calls and lets you surf the web. Not a wooden box with a yellow and pink label that says Firefox OS mobile phone. 😉

Meanwhile, the people at Mozilla say 22 key telecom operator now support the Firefox OS devices.

With Chinese vendors like Xiaomi bringing Android smartphones with powerful specs down to $100, I’d be surprised if Firefox OS ever makes much headway in the smartphone segment.

But I desperately hope that Firefox OS succeeds because competition is always good for the consumer.

And I’m going to be rooting for Firefox OS against the key competing mobile platforms iOS and Android.

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2 Responses to "Cheap Simputer, $35 Laptop & Now $25 Smartphone for Indians – Dream On, Baby"

  1. boopalanj   June 13, 2014 at 6:24 am

    Off-topic:

    http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you

    And, in case anyone thinks the title is grammatically incorrect,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    This is just a gimmick, both the phrasing of the headline and the underlying patent stuff.

    Sweetie, Silicon Valley is built on Hype and Self-aggrandizement, one feeding the other.

    Now if you jump and tell me that Tesla is an electric car company and has nothing to do with Silicon Valley, you couldn’t be more wrong.

    • boopalanj   June 17, 2014 at 3:40 am

      I agree.

      I know Musk was part of some of the big names in Silicon Valley such as Paypal after merger of his X.com. Just wanted to see your opinion.

      By the way, Is it only me who gets reminded of Modi when seeing the word “self-aggrandizement”?

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      Modi is an oddball among Indian politicians.

      Unlike, other Indian politicians, Modi does not seem to get high on money or mere status. History has shown that when it comes to corruption, BJP is no different from the Congress.

      But Modi’s oxygen appears to be power. People with enormous power can be a force for Good (Gandhi) or evil (Stalin, Indira Gandhi, Mussolini etc).

      Since the political and social environment around Modi is considerably tainted, his ability to bring significant change within the democratic framework will be curtailed.

      Far too often, the masses delude themselves that leaders have magic wands and can perform miracles. Rarely ever do people look at themselves or around them (they’d see only chutiyas if they did that).

      Since India is a chutiya country for the most part, Modi or any other leader’s ability to usher in perceptible, lasting, positive changes by democratic means will be highly limited.

      That’s the reason despite grand promises by leaders we only see incrementalism.

      Bottom line, leaders are often prisoners of their environment.

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