Admittedly, Microsoft's inexpensive, pay-as-you-go "Flexgo" personal computers might not be the most efficient way to introduce computer technology to the developing world. However, as evidenced by the explosion of mobile phones in such areas, affordable technology can always find a vast market in developing and underdeveloped regions. As US economist C.K Prahalad pragmatically puts it, "the high tech industry cannot keep expanding if it continues to sell only to 2.5 million wealthy customers." Business models for the developing world emphasize affordability. The Flexgo computer costs $300, but requires pre-paid use cards. Users who make payments on time eventually own their computers. The pay-as-you-go system nurtures reliance on technology, and stories abound about entrepreneurs making money with businesses that rely on cell phones and computers. Eventually, some innovations could even wind their way back to Western markets.

The computer of the future is like a pet: always wanting to be fed -- not unlike an oversized Tamagotchi. Otherwise, it causes trouble. After 10 hours in front of the monitor, you have to run down to the nearest kiosk, buy a new prepaid card, scratch free the code and type it in. Those who don't are reminded by the computer to please pay their fee. Eventually the machine runs out of patience and it begins gradually suspending one function after another -- until hardly anything works anymore. At that point, the only thing to do is head for the kiosk.

The world's next bestselling computer could actually work like that -- at least according to the Microsoft Corporation. "Flexgo" is what the new payment system is called and it's intended to make Windows affordable for the non-rich in developing countries.

The Internet computer works just like a prepaid mobile phone. Subsidies help keep the price of the new machine low, so that it can be sold for only about $300 -- about half the normal price. Using the computer, however, costs money, which the user pays a little at a time, by means of prepaid cards. Eventually, the computer belongs to the customer -- provided the payments have been punctual. Those who don't pay are punished. The computer simply switches itself off.

After 10 hours in front of the monitor, you have to run down to the nearest kiosk, buy a new prepaid card, scratch free the code and type it in.

For now, Flexgo computers can be purchased only in Brazil but Mexico, Russia, India and China are set to follow in the coming months. And it represents a surprising change of course for Microsoft. As recently as March, Microsoft was mocking the $100 laptop developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for children in the Third World. Microsoft argued that mobile phones provide the best means of granting the poor access to the digital world, not personal computers. The change of course likely results mainly from the small difference in the operating system between the two computers. Unlike MIT's $100 laptops, Flexgo computers don't use the Linux system, which is free of charge, but a version of Windows.

The future of high tech: Brazil, Russia, India and China

And it's not just Microsoft that has its eyes on the wallets of the poor. The Dell Corporation has already developed a cheap personal computer for Asia and IBM is wooing customers with Linux software in Brazil. Nokia and Motorola are undercutting each other's prices by developing non-contract mobile phones for developing countries -- for prices between €30 ($39) and €50 ($64).

That the high tech sector mustn't forget about the wretched of the earth is also the contention of Arun Sarin, the chief executive officer of Vodafone who gave the opening speech at this year's CeBit trade fair. The man who leads the world's largest mobile phone company loves to talk about "BRIC." While it sounds like a new example piece of high tech jargon, the acronym actually refers to four countries (and markets): Brazil, Russia, India and China.





To read the rest of this article please see Spiegel Online.

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Contributed by Jens Glüsing, Padma Rao and Hilmar Schmundt. Reprinted with permission from Spiegel Online.

To read another Global Envision article about the impact of new technologies in the developing world, see Information Technology and Globalization.



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