The first Amida Simputer has been launched, an Indian-made PDA for $240 with Internet access, designed to bring the Web to the Indian masses.

Rajesh Jain, who's "on the scene" as they say in Mumbai (what's 500 miles from a distance of 8,000, right) has his own views on the matter, which he shared with me:

• Most Indians don't need a portable device; they need something affordable with the form factor of a regular computer
  
• I think Simputer is trying to go after the global Linux PDA different. In doing so, they also want to address the domestic low-cost portable computer market.
  
• Price points are still too high. Need to be USD 100 or so.
  

These are all perfectly valid points. Let me add my own:

• This is a remarkable achievement. India is not known for hardware, and this is hardware.
• That said, Rajesh is right, in that it's limited in capabilities and the price is high.
• Linux is an interesting choice for an operating system, and the release of the Simputer may spur rapid development of Linux-based PDA applications.
• Compare this to what you get today in a $100 cell phone. Then look at what such phones will look like next year, or in two years, and you see the difficulty Amida faces.
• Both Rajesh and I may be underestimating the number of units that can be sold on patriotism.

Sometimes it's not how well the cat sings that's at issue, but the fact that it sings at all. This is Version 1.0 Indian hardware. It's out now. It's a story well-worth following.