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Keeping in mind the miniscule Indian PC penetration of around 4%, Intel has unveiled its long awaited 'Community PC' offering for the rural areas. More than just the PC, this initiative is being targeted towards creating an IT friendly ecosystem for the region. Zia Askari spoke with Bill M Siu, VP, Intel, GM, Channel Platforms Group about the company's strategy  in the space and how it will change the lives of rural masses

What is the 'Community PC' concept all about? Why did Intel adopt the PC form factor, while there is a lot of R&D being done around smaller form factors? Simputer, for instance, is an example of a rugged PC.
With the help of this project we are trying to create an IT based ecosystem that can enable the villages and its population 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 deliver these services 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. 

Intel is partnering with OEMs such as HCL and Wipro for the Community PC. However, HCL has its own version of community PC. Don't you think this would create too much of competition within OEMs?
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. Community PC has got some unique features such as 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 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 back up in areas where power supply is erratic. The PC can also operate in high dust environment and in surroundings, where there are 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 such as 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 such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and trading. Moving forward 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. If yes, what are the geographies that you are looking at?
This product originated within India, keeping in mind some of the unique problems or challenges that we have in this country. However, there are other regions globally such as 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. 

What is the price point that Intel is looking at for 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 the price sensitive Indian market, we would surely want this to be competitively priced in this geography.

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

How do you think that an offering like this will change lives within  rural India? How do you plan to tackle the problem of connectivity?
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. 

It 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 (SWAN). 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 such as Reliance and Tata in order to provide connectivity with the help of their mobile networks.

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