I agree with your general point of view. The US$50 is the figure I have had in my mind for some time as the maximum affordable. That assumes at least a five year life ($10 per year) and close to zero interest on the payments over those five years. The World Bank could do that provided we can get the hardware to that level. But we are not there yet.

However, as I have said in my conversations here, many other elements must be present for something like an eBook to be cost/effective, even at US$50. Good content must exist, linked to educational tests used by each country and teachers must learn how to use ICT's effectively. Finally to be really effective, the "eBooks" must be more than just passive transmitters of words and numbers. Learners need feedback loops to support their learning and today's eBooks do not have that feature. That's why I am impressed with the TeacherMate that approaches the requirements we agree upon and, on top of that, is interactive. I am confident we will see more such tools soon but, in the meantime, we need to focus on those things that can be done: pedagogically sound courseware built as courses, not just bits and pieces of interesting stuff, and helping teachers increase their skills at helping children learn. There is no need to wait on hardware for these tasks to be undertaken.

1. A Basic Courseware Package. The first phase is to get some really good courseware, in any language, that covers the basics of learning to read and to manipulate numbers. This needs to be a set of complete courses — lesson plan, textbook, workbook — not just some interesting stuff. The Shuttleworth Foundation has accomplished this by purchasing a commercial publisher of k-12 courseware and placing it online for free. That gives people something to work with.

I believe the rewards from knowing one has contributed to the common welfare are sufficient for a lot of this core content to become available. We see that happening at the university level and it is beginning to happen at the k-12 level.

2. Translation and Contextualization. The second phase is to download the core courseware, translate and contextualize it. In many cases this is being done by a partnership between an NGO and the government agency responsible for curriculum development. Most developing governments seem to have such a body. The resulting courseware is, or should be, in the public domain. Such materials need to be a mix of high-end interactive resources as well as printable materials for those places that do not have access to such technologies. The key to this phase, it seems to me, is to enable developing countries to have access both to core content, such as the Shutleworth content, and to the software tools required to convert that content into something appropriate for their region.

3. Teacher development. A key in this entire process is to provide teachers the opportunities they need to learn how to use high quality learning resources effrectively. Getting good courseware in the hands of teachers and students is not enough.

Those who have enjoyed a good business in providing commercial content for the k-12 sector, in developed as well as less developed; areas of the world will not be happy with this development. They will need a different model for their future businesses.