India's $10 laptop: Too good to be true

06.02.2009
India's much-hyped plan to build a US$10 laptop has been exposed as a massive exaggeration.

Several media outlets, including , cited a that last week stated India would be unveiling the laptop as an educational tool for children across the country.

The Times article quoted a government official -- Secretary of Higher Education R. P. Agarwal - which seemed to provide more legitimacy to the claim. Indian officials had said it was to be an answer to Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child project.

Now it turns out that the project actually centers around a 2GB hard drive with wireless capabilities.

that the device "appears to be nothing much more sophisticated than a specialized digital storage hub/net access point for educational media."