3G Netbook At Rs. 10,000 – Qualcomm’s Kayak To Sail In India

Qualcomm, the US-based mobile chip-maker announced in November that they were working on a low-cost PC, codenamed ‘Kayak‘. A ‘Kayak’ for all those who don’t know is a small, sleek and fast boat used by American Indians (Red Indians). And India might be the testing ground. The computer will be priced under Rs. 10,000 (200$) and might be tested in India by the second half of next year.

Why India?

• Low PC Penetration
• Huge untapped market
• Attractive to those with low purchasing power

The Kayak will be solely dependent on India’s 3G network. Now, we’ve been covering the 3G story for a long time. Recently, we reported how the 3G auction will finally take place in January (hopefully). With the 3G network enabled, the Kayak will have access to high speed Internet. The PC has a design model and very specific software specifications, all of which will be made available to device manufacturers. The Kayak seems to be a very basic model, for those who need a stripped down, inexpensive system.

It will also provide support for connections to TV, computer screens and other display devices. It will also contain a built in display. Other obvious additions are mouse and keyboard compatibility. It will come built in with Qualcomm’s dual-core (Mobile station Modem 7000 series) chipsets. Also part of the package is Web 2.0 capable browser from Opera.

Needless to say, the PC will not have much storage capacity. So it’s hopes lie in the cloud. We’ve commented on cloud computing and on how the browser was the future of computing. With cloud computing and online storage becoming popular, Kayak surely has potential to take off.

We had earlier reported how Qualcomm’s chipsets were used in India’s first 3G enabled laptop. There are however other 3G netbook providers. From Nokia to HP, all seem intent on getting into the game. What offsets the Kayak from others is that it includes wireless wide-area networking as well.

Kanwalinder Singh, President, Qualcomm India and South Asia said, “We hope to undertake trials by the end of this year. The reference design is ready. We are talking to various original equipment manufacturers and they, in turn, are talking to operators. We are also talking to application developers to allow wide applications to ride on the Kayak. Though not an Indian name, Kayak is very focused on emerging markets. It offers a very simplified means of travel, hence the word to describe our emerging market strategy to create an alternative computer that is suited not only for rural folk but also the urban youth who seek just infotainment,”.

The potential for the Kayak is huge. From education to farming to e-governance, the potential for a cheap fast internet enabled computer is enormous. Singh’s opinion concurs. “Increasingly, local governments in India are beginning to use social networking sites as a means to communicate with the citizens. While e-governance today is basically about government content on the web, the e-governance of tomorrow will increasingly use the social networking platform. The Kayak is designed to take advantage of the social networking platform,” says Singh.

Hopefully, this initiative will succeed. For those who remember, India was one of the pioneers of the “Simputer“. Launched around 10 years back when even basic systems cost half a lakh, the Simputer was also priced at 10K. It was hopeful of selling 50,000 machines by 2005, but managed a sale of only 4000.

Also, the 3G saga seems to go on endlessly. And there’s a lot of big businesses eying it. We wrote about how Google wanted in on the whole thing. In a recent news article, HP is also focusing very intently on the 3G market in India.

The funny part is, these are all international companies which are eying the Indian market. Apart from the points listed above as to “Why India”, the trend with technological innovation is getting increasingly focused on the India and the rest of Asia. In fact, it subscribes to the trend of “reverse innovation”. The process of reverse innovation begins by focusing on the needs and requirements for low-cost countries like India and China. Once products are developed for these markets, they are then sold elsewhere – even in the West – at low prices which creates new markets and uses for these innovations.

And there’s potential for reaching lower. At the beginning of the year, there was an article on a Rs. 500 laptop to be soon launched across educational institutions across India. Codenamed Sakshat, it was an initiative by the Indian Government. Though it might never get commercial, Rs. 10,000 is a good enough start.

Oh yes, the Kayak will also let you make calls. Qualcomm is already in talks with Airtel, Tata and other service providers. So, if PCs come as low as 10k, what’s the potential of the “smart phones” currently priced around 30k?