"We believe that a PC delivers an ideal form factor that can be utilized by a whole community"

Keeping in mind the miniscule PC penetration of around four percent in India,
Intel Corporation has unveiled its long awaited 'Community PC' offering for
rural parts of the country. More than just the PC, this initiative is being
targeted towards creating an IT friendly ecosystem for the region. Bill Siu
discussed the company's strategy about this offering and how it will change
rural lives at the basic level.

What is Intel's objective for rolling out the 'Community
PC' program? There were other form factors that could have been used like the
'Simputer'. Why has Intel opted for a 'PC form factor' only, as far as
this project is concerned?

With the help of this project we are trying to create an IT-based ecosystem
that can enable villages and its populace to lead a better life. It is not about
giving them a device. It is about building the overall ecosystem. We have a
long-term vision. We are here to identify the needs and work with the existing
social system in terms of designing services and delivering them using
technology.

When it comes to selecting this PC form factor, we have done
that because we are targeting the community. All the other form factors are
pretty much focused towards an individual user. We believe that a PC delivers an
ideal form factor that can be utilized by a whole community.

Bill M Siu VP-Channel Platforms Group , Intel Corporation

Intel is partnering with OEMs like HCL and Wipro for the
Community PC. However, HCL has its own products as well that qualify to compete
with the Community PC. Don't you think that there would be enough competition
within OEMs like HCL to market the Community PC?

There will always be competing products in a marketplace. We are trying to
create opportunities not only for the rural population but also for our OEM
partners in order to target this vast segment. The Community PC has got some
unique features like its design and overall look and feel. This product is
consciously designed keeping in mind the harsh conditions of the rural areas.

This sturdy PC can work in temperatures of up to 50 degrees
Celsius and can even run on a battery that can be charged by pedaling (as in a
bicycle dynamo) and other means. The battery works as a backup in areas where
power supply is erratic.

The PC can also operate in high dust environment and in
surroundings, where there are a lot of insects. This India-specific platform was
developed after taking into consideration the problems faced by a typical Indian
rural man - frequent power failure, dust, humidity and varying temperatures.

To make the PC attractive to lenders or banks, the platform
comes with a certificate-based access through a 30-digit code. This feature will
allow banks to verify the validity of installment payments against the purchase
of the PC.

Is Intel looking at increasing the number of partners-both
OEMs and solution providers- for this project within India?

As of now we have partners like HCL, Wipro, Microsoft, Red Hat, NIIT, Yahoo
India etc. As we move forward, we are looking at increasing this ecosystem
considerably. We are already engaged in talks with other OEMs in order to
partner with them for this project.

We have identified certain key areas like healthcare,
education, agriculture and trading. We are looking forward to partnering with
local ISVs and other solution providers in order to develop localized content
for this project.  

Are you looking at taking the Community PC model outside
India as well?

These products originated within India, keeping in mind some of the unique
problems or challenges that customers have in this country. However, there are
other regions globally like Africa, China or Latin America where there are
almost similar challenges. So we would certainly like to take this project
beyond the Indian borders in future. We would be looking at countries like
China, the African region and Latin America.  

At what price point will Intel introduce the Community PC?
What sort of revenue model does Intel have for this project?

The pricing for this product primarily depends on our OEM partners because
they are the ones who will decide on the end-user price. However, keeping in
mind how price sensitive the Indian market is, we would surely want this to be
competitively priced in this geography.

We have our regular revenue model, which involves selling the
chipset and CPU. So all these PCs will have our chipsets and the CPU.  

How will an offering like this change lives within rural
India? When it comes to this demography there is a lot that needs to be done on
the connectivity front. How do you plan to tackle this roadblock?

This initiative is directed towards IT-enabling the community in general. So
the idea is to arm them with information that is necessary for them, it can be
healthcare information or critical information about agriculture issues.

The government of India has already announced its plan to
have 100,000 Common Service Centers by August 2007. So we certainly think that
this is a product, which is ideally placed for such initiatives.

The government of India has also announced its plans to
connect villages with the help of statewide area networks. We are involved in
some pilots in Karnataka and Uttaranchal wherein we are trying to provide
connectivity with the help of WiMax technology to these rural areas. We are
trying to build low cost networks that can support this initiative. We are also
partnering with telecom service providers like Reliance and Tata in order to
provide connectivity with the help of their mobile networks.

ZIA ASKARI