Microsoft is gearing to come up with the alternatives for ultra-low-cost laptops. The step is strategized to support people in developing nations with a way to communicate and access the Internet.

The news clarify that the company is targeting cheaper devices to give people a head start in computing like Smartphones and shared computing. The factor pushing this strategy is the high impact of mobile phones in daily lives. They are targeting tasks like loans, microfinance, and computing to be achieved through mobile phones.

The company is looking for alternative scope of usage for mobile devices like linking to finance products. The momentum mobile usage has gained in few years, is the paradigm for this mobile oriented strategy to stiff the competition for ultra-low-cost-laptops. The reports estimate that mobile users will grow to 3 billion worldwide.

The company is also planning to hook Smartphones to TVs to use the computing power and connectivity of the handset with the larger screen of the TV for a better, and cheaper, Internet experience in the developing world.

Stressing the fact that ultra-low-cost laptop PCs (ULCPCs) will surely change the way computing is carried on, but such devices are still expensive for developing nations.

To make computing cheaper and efficient, the company is working on projects such as Fone+ and MultiPoint. These technologies are focused to offer each student his or her own mouse and unique cursor to use the same computer. This effort drops the price of computing to one PC, a projector and 30 computer mice per classroom, instead of $200 per laptop.

Renu Singh,ITVoir Network