The issues is production will not be cost effective why use 70k to produce a laptop that can be imported duty free at 50k with the same specs importation is cheaper than production in that case.

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 9:35 AM, Alvin Jason Ochieng <ajochola@gmail.com> wrote:
Jared very true...though Mecer are still very much here!!!

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 9:33 AM, Jared Koyier <jaredkoyier@gmail.com> wrote:
> Probably lets re-evaluate the success of Meccer and Starmax as desktop
> assemblers in Kenya. From what I can recall Meccer closed shop and Starmax
> products are not that popular.
>
>
> 2009/12/11 Gakuru Alex <alexgakuru.lists@gmail.com>
>>
>> I think our 'default' should not always be 'negative'. If you had
>> attended the Digital Video Broadcast launch two days ago, then you
>> would have found out that the University of Nairobi has embarked on
>> local manufacture of "set top boxes" digital<-> analogue converters.
>> The huge market being a sufficient reason justifying commercial
>> viability.
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Alvin Jason Ochieng <ajochola@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > This would be hard to sell in this mmarket
>> >
>> > My 2 cents
>> >
>> > On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 8:41 AM, Gakuru Alex
>> > <alexgakuru.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> Saidi,
>> >>
>> >> Just to thank you for the "knowledge value" I find in many of your
>> >> posts.
>> >>
>> >> Sincerely,
>> >>
>> >> Alex
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 10:27 PM, saidimu apale <saidimu@gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>> This is old news (the VIA OpenBook @ http://www.viaopenbook.com/), but
>> >>> it
>> >>> triggered some "new" questions in mind:
>> >>> - how feasible is it for a public-private-partnership (PPP) to setup a
>> >>> fabrication/assembly plant using the reference designs?
>> >>> - would the (eventual) cost be lower than off-the-shelf netbooks?
>> >>> - is the boost to the local knowledge economy worth the risks
>> >>> involved?
>> >>> - would anyone buy the units? Or are Kenyans too beholden to brand
>> >>> names
>> >>> (HP, Toshiba etc)?
>> >>> - is this a camouflaged reinvention of the wheel?
>> >>> - are there times when other factors justify reinventing portions of a
>> >>> wheel? What factors might those be?
>> >>> Engadget's review
>> >>> @ http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/27/via-openbook-hands-on/
>> >>> If the ICT Board and the Government are serious about kickstarting
>> >>> local
>> >>> this and that, perhaps they should be asking themselves such
>> >>> questions. Or
>> >>> have they already?
>> >>> It would be great if university courses modified the reference designs
>> >>> for a
>> >>> local context and published their results. Or at the very least
>> >>> modifying a
>> >>> simpler circuit board like the Arduino http://www.arduino.cc/ (Wired
>> >>> has a
>> >>> good article about it
>> >>>
>> >>> @ http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/magazine/16-11/ff_openmanufacturing).
>> >>> Saidi
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