Intel's Bridge for the Digital Divide

INTEL'S BRIDGE FOR THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Michael Kanellos]
Intel is developing a sub-$400 notebook for kindergartners through high school students in emerging nations. The notebook is part of a first wave of PCs that the chipmaker hopes will help it establish the personal computer as the tool for bridging the digital divide. Several individuals and organizations -- MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, Microsoft, thin-client manufacturers, phone makers -- are touting machines for bringing the Internet to Africa, rural Asia and Latin America. By various estimates, more than a billion PCs will be connected to the Internet by 2010. That still leaves more than 5.5 billion people out, and they won't have much money. Bill Siu, general manager of Intel's Channel group, says that of the 800 million people worldwide who make more than $25,000 a year, 70 percent have access to a computer. Of the 4.7 billion people who make between $1,000 and $25,000, only 10 percent have access to a computer. The 1 billion who make less than $1,000 have virtually no access. PCs are the best tools for reaching this market, Siu argues, because the world's software and communication tools are already written for them. Devices like the Simputer or Negroponte's $100 laptop are more isolated, he said.
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