$35 laptop with touchscreens of 5 inches, 7 inches, and 9 inches

India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said the Linux based computing device was expected to be introduced to higher education institutions from 2011 but the aim was to drop the price further to $20 and ultimately to $10.

Three models are planned, with touchscreens of 5 inches, 7 inches, and 9 inches. They will have full WiFi, a USB port, and 2GB of onboard storage, which is pretty reasonable for the price. Full internet browsing, with the ability to play Youtube videos, is also promised.

While Indian university students—particularly ones in engineering—have access to advanced computers in campus tech labs, few students have their own personal computers. The Indian government’s initiative hopes to change this with a tablet that impresses with its price—and its feature list. Some are logical choices—like —and others are actually somewhat surprising.

"The solutions for tomorrow will emerge from India.

Sibal said the government may subsidise 50 per cent of the price for students.

Mr. Sibal expressed that about over one-third of the 25,000 colleges and universities across the country are now connected to the broadband connection and various online and video-streaming courses are now available for students with many more are being developed.

At the time of the initial announcement the Indian government had not yet found a manufacturer, leading some to fear that the estimated price was idle fancy. Now, however, it has teamed up with HCL Technologies, a date is set and the price is as it was first advertised, with the possibility of it being lowered to as little as $10 if competition allows.