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Indian tech firm invents cheap e-mail device

India's iNabling Technologies has invented a cheap e-mail device, the iStation, which doesn't require a computer to send and receive messages.

"A personal computer was never designed as only an e-mailing instrument. The iStation is a much simpler device specifically developed to access e-mail," Adrian Da Cunha, head of sales and marketing at iNabling Technologies Pvt Ltd said.

iStation, which resembles a laptop computer, costs Rs 7000 ($149) plus a monthly access fee of Rs 100 and allows users to access e-mail through regular phone lines, routed to iNabling's Internet services.

The Bangalore-based startup's invention is the latest initiative to try and bridge the 'digital divide' in India, which has a booming software industry alongside 35 per cent of citizens who cannot read or write.

"Initially, we are looking to sell iStation in district towns in Karnataka which have a population below 50,000," said Da Cunha, adding that Karnataka state had placed orders for about 150 iStations.

The patent-pending product, launched earlier this week, allows users to send and receive messages in English, Hindi and the Kannada regional language but Da Cunha said more regional languages were expected to be added in about a year.

"We are going to have about 50 computer servers throughout the country by the first quarter of next year which will allow iStation users to access e-mail at the cost of a phone call," he said.

The company expects to sell about about 64,000 iStations in its first year but will face competition from the "Simputer", a $200 palmtop device launched by a non-profit trust fund, also in the Karnataka capital of Bangalore, in April.

iNabling Technologies has been funded by the venture arm of ICICI Ltd and Infinity Technology Investments, besides BV Jagadeesh, a co-founder of US-based Exodus Communications, a Web hosting leader.

"Simputer" -- short for a simple, inexpensive, multilingual computer -- and iStation are part of efforts to rebut criticism that India's fast-growing technology boom is only for the rich.

India, with a personal computer base of about five million in a nation of one billion, has seen a strong rise in computer sales as more and more people log on to the Internet and access e-mail.

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