Computing Devices for All: Creating and Selling the Low-Cost Computer

Abstract

In the past decade, several projects have explored the possibility of enabling human development for economically underserved populations by giving people direct access to modern computing technology. The main economic and distributional hurdle in the access of such provision has been the prohibitive cost of computing devices. The quest for lowering this bar has resulted in research into solutions aimed at modifying existing technology to reduce the cost through innovation with the software, hardware, and distribution processes. Some common threads are manifested across such projects, both in terms of the approaches to building new technologies, and the subsequent outcomes. Using two important case studies we generate some hypotheses about the possibilities and barriers to new technology development for poor populations