Netbook Stories

For the Psion device, see Psion netBook.

Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, and inexpensive laptop computers.

At their inception in late 2007 — as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features (e.g., the optical drive), featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced specification and computing power. Over the course of their evolution, netbooks have ranged in size from below 5" screen diagonal to 12" (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

A typical weight is 1 kg (2-3 pounds). Often significantly less expensive than other laptops, by mid-2009, some wireless data carriers began to offer netbooks to users "free of charge", with an extended service contract purchase.

In the short period since their appearance, netbooks have grown in size and features, now converging with new smaller, lighter notebooks (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

By August 2009, when comparing a Dell netbook to a Dell notebook, CNET called netbooks "nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks," noting, "the specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other," and "the only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices." (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery) .

Netbooks now typically use Windows 7 Starter which Microsoft sells at a lower price but restricts to smaller hardware.

History

An ASUS Eee PC 700, the first mass-produced netbook, used a 7 inch screen.

The origins of the netbook can be traced to the Network Computer (NC) concept of the mid-1990s (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

In March 1997, Apple Computer introduced the eMate 300as a subcompact laptop that was a cross between the Apple Newton PDA and a conventional laptop computer. The eMate was discontinued, along with all other Newton devices, in 1998 with the return of Steve Jobs. More recently, Psion's now-discontinued netBook line, the OLPC XO-1 (initially called US$100 laptop) and the Palm Foleo were all small, portable, network-enabled computers (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

The generic use of the term "netbook", however, began in 2007 whenAsus unveiled the ASUS Eee PC. Originally designed for emerging markets, the 23 × 17 cm (9.1 × 6.7 in) device weighed about 0.9 kg (2 lb) and featured a 7 in (18 cm) display, a keyboard approximately 85% the size of a normal keyboard, a solid-state drive and a custom version of Linux with a simplified user interface geared towards netbook use (Dell RM791 battery) .

Following the Eee PC, Everex launched its Linux-based CloudBook; Windows XP and Windows Vista models were also introduced and MSI released the Wind - others soon followed suit.

The OLPC project, known for its innovation in producing a durable, cost- and power-efficient netbook for developing countries, is regarded as one of the major factors that led top computer hardware manufacturers to begin creating low-cost netbooks for the consumer market (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

When the first ASUS Eee PC sold over 300,000 units in four months, companies such as Dell and Acer took note and began producing their own inexpensive netbooks. And while theOLPC XO-1 targets a different audience than do the other manufacturers' netbooks, it appears that OLPC is now facing the competition that was catalyzed by itself. Developing countries now have a large choice of vendors, from which they can choose which low-cost netbook they prefer (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Netbook market popularity within laptops in second half of 2008 based on the number of product clicks in the Laptop Subcategory per month by PriceGrabber .

By late 2008, netbooks had begun to take market share away from notebooks (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

In contrast to earlier, largely failed attempts to establish mini computers as a new class of mainstream personal computing devices built around comparatively expensive platforms requiring proprietary software applications or imposing severe usability limitations, the recent success of netbooks can also be attributed to the fact that PC technology has now matured enough to allow truly cost optimized implementations with enough performance to suit the needs of a majority of PC users (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

This is illustrated by the fact that typical system performance of a netbook is on the level of a mainstream PC in 2001, at around one quarter of the cost. While this performance level suffices for most of the user needs, it caused an increased interest in resource-efficient applications such as Google's Chrome, and forced Microsoft to extend availability of Windows XP in order to secure market share (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .

It is estimated that almost thirty times more netbooks were sold in 2008 (11.4 million, 70% of which were in Europe) than in 2007 (400,000).For 2009, sales are expected to jump to 35 million, rising to an estimated 139 million in 2013. This trend is reinforced by the rise of web-based applications as well as mobile networking and, according to Wired Magazine, netbooks are evolving into "super-portable laptops for professionals" (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

The ongoing recession is also helping with the growing sales of netbooks .

In Australia, the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, in partnership with Lenovo, are providing Year 9 (high school) students in government high schools with free Lenovo S10e netbooks in 2009 and Lenovo Mini 10 netbooks in 2010 preloaded with software including Microsoft Office and Adobe Systems' Creative Suite 4 (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .

This is provided under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Digital Education Revolution, or DER. The netbooks runWindows 7 Enterprise. They have unique tracking devices built-in that the police can use to track the device if it is lost or stolen. The NSW DET retains ownership of these netbooks until the student graduates from Year 12, when the student can keep it (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .

Greece is providing all 13 year old students (middle school, or gymnasium, freshmen) and their teachers with free netbooks in 2009 through the "Digital Classroom Initiative". Students are given one unique coupon each, with which they redeem the netbook of their choice, up to a €450 price ceiling, in participating shops throughout the country (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .

These netbooks come bundled with localised versions of either Windows XP (or higher) or open source (e.g. Linux) operating systems, wired and wireless networking functionality, antivirus protection, preactivated parental controls, and an educational software package (Hp pavilion dv6000 battery) .

Microsoft and Intel have tried to "cement" netbooks in the low end of the market to protect mainstream notebook PC sales, because they get lower margins on low-cost models. The companies have limited the specifications of netbooks, but despite this original equipment manufacturers have announced higher-end netbooks models as of March 2009 (Sony VGN-FW11S Battery) .

Ending in 2008 the report was that the typical netbook featured a 1.4 kg (3 lb) weight, a 9 in (23 cm) screen, wireless Internet connectivity, Linux or Windows XP, an Intel Atom processor, and a cost of less than $400 US. A mid-2009 newspaper article said that a typical netbook is 1.2 kg (2.6 lb), $300 US, and has a 10 in (25 cm) screen, 1 GB of random-access memory, a 160 GB hard disk drive, and a wireless transceiver for both home and a mobile network (Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery) .

Buyers drove the netbook market towards larger screens, which grew from 7 in (18 cm) in the original Asus Eee PC 700 to 12 in (30.5 cm) models in the summer of 2009.

Trademarks

Psion netBook

In 1996 Psion started applying for trademarks for a line of netBook products that was later released in 1999 (Toshiba Satellite P10 Battery) .

International trademarks were issued (including U.S. Trademark 75,215,401 and Community Trade Mark 000428250) but the models failed to gain popularity and are now discontinued (except for providing accessories, maintenance and support to existing users). Similar marks were recently rejected by the USPTO citing a "likelihood of confusion" under section 2(d) (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ210CE Battery) .

Despite expert analysis that the mark is "probably generic", Psion Teklogix issued cease and desist letters on 23 December 2008. This was heavily criticised, prompting the formation of the "Save the Netbooks" grassroots campaign which worked to reverse the Google AdWords ban, cancel the trademark and encourage continued generic use of the term (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

While preparing a "Petition for Cancellation" of U.S. Trademark 75,215,401 they revealed that Dell had submitted one day before on the basis of abandonment, genericness and fraud. They later revealed Psion's counter-suit against Intel, filed on 27 February 2009.

It was also revealed around the same time that Intel had also sued Psion Teklogix (US & Canada) and Psion (UK) in the Federal Court on similar grounds (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

In addition to seeking cancellation of the trademark, Intel sought an order enjoining Psion from asserting any trademark rights in the term "netbook", a declarative judgment regarding their use of the term, attorneys' fees, costs and disbursements and "such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper" (Acer Aspire One battery) .

On June 2, 2009, Psion announced that the suit had been settled out of court. Psion's statement said that the company was withdrawing all of its trademark registrations for the term "Netbook" and that Psion agreed to "waive all its rights against third parties in respect of past, current or future use" of the term (Toshiba Satellite L305 Battery) .

Hardware

Netbooks typically have less powerful hardware than larger laptop computers. Some netbooks do not even have a conventional hard drive.Such netbooks use solid-state storage devices instead, as these require less power, are faster, lighter, and generally more shock-resistant, but with much less storage capacity (such as 32, 64, or 128GB compared to the 100GB to 2TB mechanical hard drives typical of many notebooks/laptop computers) (Toshiba Satellite Pro M15 Battery) .

All netbooks on the market today support Wi-Fi wireless networking and many can be used on mobile telephone networks with data capability (for example,3G). Mobile data plans are supplied under contract in the same way as mobile telephones. Some also include ethernet and/or modem ports, for broadbandor dial-up Internet access, respectively (Toshiba Satellite M65 battery) .

Processor architectures

x86

Most netbooks, such as those from Asus, BenQ, Dell, Toshiba, Acer use the Intel Atom notebook processor (typically the N270 1.6 GHz but also available is the N280 at 1.66 GHz, replaced by the N450 series with graphics and memory controller integrated on the chip in early 2010 and running at 1.66 GHz), but the x86-compatible VIA Technologies C7 processor is also powering netbooks from many different manufacturers like HP and Samsung (Toshiba Satellite T4900 Battery) .

VIA has also designed the Nano, a new x86-64-compatible architecture targeting lower priced, mobile applications like netbooks. Currently, one netbook uses the Nano; the Samsung NC20. Some very low cost netbooks use a System-on-a-chip Vortex86 processor meant for embedded systems, just to be "Windows compatible", but with very low performance. AMD plans to launch Netbook processors next year which should be included in the netbook Asus Eee PC 1015T and many others (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery) .

Comparison

By definition netbooks accommodate processors with little processing power. For comparison a common Core 2 Duo T5600 at 1.83 GHz with 2 MB L2 cacheused in low-end laptops has a PassMark score of about 1000 points. The following table shows benchmarks for most common netbook CPUs (Toshiba Satellite A200 Battery) :

Manufacturer	Name	Frequency/GHz	L2 cache/KB	TDP/W	Reference	Average PassMark score
Intel	Atom N270	1.6	512	2.5	[2]	310
Intel	Atom N450	1.66	512	5.5	[3]	320
AMD	Athlon Neo MV-40	1.6	512	15	[4]	391
Intel	Pentium SU2700	1.3	2048	10	[5]	449
Intel	Celeron 743	1.3	1024	10	[6]	480
Intel	Celeron SU2300 (Dual Core)	1.2	1024	10	[7]	914
Intel	Pentium SU4100 (Dual Core)	1.3	2048	10	[8]	990

Noticeably high PassMark score on the last 2 dual-core processors (Toshiba Satellite 1200 Battery) .

ARM

ARM Holdings designs and licenses microprocessor technology with relatively low power requirements and low cost which would constitute an ideal basis for netbooks. In particular, the recent ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore series of processor cores have been touted by ARM as an alternative platform to x86 for netbooks (Toshiba NB100 Battery) .

These systems, when available, will be branded assmartbooks. Freescale, a manufacturer of ARM chips, has projected that, by 2012, half of all netbooks will run on ARM. In June 2009, Nvidia announced a dozen mobile Internet devices running ARM based Tegra SoC's, some of which will be netbooks (Toshiba Satellite M300 Battery) .

Smartbooks will deliver features including always on, all-day battery life, 3G connectivity and GPS (all typically found in smartphones) in a laptop-style body with a screen size of 5 to 10 inches and aQWERTY keyboard. These systems do not run traditional x86 versions of Microsoft Windows, rather custom Linux operating systems (such as Google's Android or Chrome OS) (Dell INSPIRON 1525 battery) .

Other barriers for the adoption of ARM are slowly being removed, for example Adobe is finally working on an implementation of the full version of Flash player for ARM.

MIPS

Some netbooks use MIPS architecture-compatible processors. These include the Skytone Alpha 400, based on an Ingenic system on chip, and the Gdium netbooks, which uses the 64-bit Loongsonprocessor capable of 400 million instructions per second (Dell Latitude D830 Battery) .

While these systems are relatively inexpensive, the processing power of current MIPS implementations usually compares unfavorably with those of x86-implementations as found in current netbooks.After the ARM version, Adobe is planning to release a version of the Adobe Flash Player (version 10.1) for the MIPS platform (Dell Studio 1735 Battery) .

Operating systems

Windows

As of January 2009, over 90% (96% claimed by Microsoft as of February 2009 ) of netbooks in the United States are estimated to ship with Windows XP,which Microsoft was later estimated to sell ranging from US$15 to US$35 per netbook. Microsoft has extended the availability of Windows XP for ultra-low cost personal computers from June 2008 until June 2010 (Dell Latitude D620 Battery) .

However, the discounted license costs only applies to reduced size and functionality netbooks, which effectively enables the production of low-cost PCs while preserving the higher margins of mainstream desktops and "value" laptops as well as avoiding increased use of Linux installations on netbooks. Microsoft also has Windows 7 Starter for this class of devices (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ150E Battery) .

As of the first quarter of 2009 many netbook models previously announced with Windows XP for the US market were in fact being released with Windows 7 Starter instead, at the same price point previously announced for the Windows XP editions. However, unlike on regular desktops or notebooks that were sold with Vista but included a coupon for 7, users could not get a coupon for 7 Starter if they bought a netbook (Sony VGN-FZ31Z Battery) .

Windows CE has also been used in netbook applications, due to its reduced feature design, that keeps with the design philosophy of netbooks.

Some netbooks have also been sold with Windows Vista (mostly prior to the release of Windows 7).

Many netbooks are by default unable to activate Windows in an enterprise environment using a Microsoft Key Management Service (KMS) as they lack System Locked Preinstallation (SLP) capability in their BIOS (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ38M Battery) .

The missing feature artificially segments enterprise customers from the lower end Netbook market; some hardware vendors offer an optional SLP-compliant BIOS to enterprise customers at additional cost.

Linux

As of November 2009, customised Linux distributions are estimated to ship on 32% of netbooks worldwide, making it the second most popular operating system after Windows. As Linux systems normally install software from an Internet software repository, they do not need an optical drive to install software (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21m Battery) .

As of August 2010, major netbook manufacturers no longer install or support Linux in the United States. The reason for this change of stance is unclear, although it coincides with the availability of Windows 7 Starter and a strong marketing push for the adoption of this OS in the netbook market. However, companies targeting niche markets, such as System76 and ZaReason, continue to pre-install Linux on the devices they sell (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ18m Battery) .

Netbooks have sparked the development of several Linux variants or completely new distributions, which are optimized for small screen use and the limited processing power of the Atom processors which typically power netbooks. Examples include Ubuntu Netbook Edition, EasyPeasy, and Jolicloud, which are all based on Ubuntu, and Moblin, originally supported by Intel but now supported by the Linux Foundation (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11m Battery) .

Both Jolicloud and Moblin purport to be "social oriented" or social networking operating systems rather than traditional "office work production" operating systems. See the full list of Netbook Distributions. An Intel-sponsored beta version of Moblin version 2.0 became available in the autumn of 2009 (Dell Studio 1555 Battery) .

Android

Google's Android software platform, designed for mobile telephone handsets, has been demonstrated on an ASUS Eee PC and its Linux operating system contains policies for mobile internet devicesincluding the original Asus Eee PC 701. ASUS has allocated engineers to develop an Android-based netbook. Freescale have also announced plans for a low-cost ARM-based netbook design, running Android (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

In May 2009 a contractor of Dell announced it is porting Adobe Flash Lite to Android for Dell netbooks. Acer announced Android netbooks to be available in Q3/2009.

In July 2009, a new project, Android-x86, was created to provide an open source solution for Android on the x86 platform, especially for netbooks (Dell Vostro 1500 Battery) .

Since the initial work on Android, Google announced a netbook specific operating system, Chrome OS, and future operating system development may be forked into Android for smartphones and similar handhelds, and Chrome OS for traditional keyboard driven machines like netbooks.

Chrome OS

Google's upcoming Chrome OS is expected to be loaded on some netbooks; some even speculate that Google will launch a Google-branded netbook running the Chrome OS (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

If Google chooses to support the cost of the netbook by showing ads, it could be given away free.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X has been demonstrated running on various netbooks as a result of the OSx86 project, although this is in violation of the operating system's End User License Agreement. Apple has complained to sites hosting information on how to install OS X onto non-Apple hardware (including Wired and YouTube) who have reacted and removed content in response (Toshiba Satellite M60 battery) .

One article nicknamed a netbook running OS X a "Hackintosh."

In November 2009, Apple, Inc. won a summary judgment against Psystar on the grounds that Apple's method of preventing Mac OS X from being installed on non-Apple hardware is protected by theDMCA.

Apple unveiled the iPad on January 27, 2010. Though officially a tablet PC, the iPad is considered by some to be Apple's closest competition to Windows-based netbooks (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

The iPad operates on theiOS rather than Mac OS X but departs from completely mimicking the iPod Touch by including a touch screen operated version of its iWorks program and offering an accessory keyboard.

Apple has now released their own version of a Netbook, the 11.6 inch Macbook Air. A small, light, and lower powered laptop, with no optical or hard drives (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

Other

Netbooks have been demonstrated running other operating systems including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Darwin.

The Cloud operating system attempts to capitalize on the minimalist aspect of netbooks. User space is limited to a browser application only, in effect making this operating system a browser (Dell Studio 1555 Battery) .

Usage

A June 2009 NPD study found that 60% of netbook buyers never take their netbooks out of the house.

Another NPD study indicated that by September 2009 netbooks accounted for 20% of all portable computer shipments.

Special "children's" editions of netbooks have been released under Disney branding; their low cost (less at risk), lack of DVD player (less to break) and smaller keyboards (closer to children's hand sizes) are viewed as significant advantages for that target market (Dell Inspiron 300M Battery) .

The principal objection to netbooks in this context is the lack of good video performance for streaming online video in current netbooks and a lack of speed with even simple games. Adults browsing for text content are less dependent on video content than small children who cannot read.

Netbooks in education

Netbooks are a growing trend in education for several reasons (Dell XPS M1530 battery) .

The need to prepare children for 21st century lifestyles, combined with hundreds of new educational tools that can be found online, and a growing emphasis on student centered learning are three of the biggest contributing factors to the rising use of Netbook technology in schools. Dell were one of the first to mass produce a ruggedised netbook for the education sector, by having a rubber outlay, touchscreen and network activity light to show the teacher the netbook is online (Dell XPS M2010 battery) .

Netbooks offer several distinct advantages in educational settings. First, their compact size and weight make for an easy fit in student work areas. Similarly, the small size make Netbooks easier to transport than heavier, larger sized traditional laptops. In addition, prices ranging from $200–$600 dollars mean the affordability of Netbooks can be a relief to school budget makers. Despite the small size and price, Netbooks are fully capable of accomplishing most school-related tasks, including word processing, power point presentations, access to the Internet, multimedia playback, and photo management (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

Uses in the classroom

Netbooks have the potential to change the way students and teachers interact, and have many practical applications in the classroom setting. One major implication of netbooks in schools is cloud computing. Cloud computing eliminates many of the technology related headaches that we have become accustomed to, including incompatibility between home computers and school computers, “data loss” due to computer crash, and printer failure (HP Pavilion dv9000 battery) .

Virtually all Netbooks have wireless Internet connections, allowing complete access to free online applications and servers. Online conversations and projects can be completed when students are neither working at the same time, or place.

Activities

Netbooks are highly adaptable to students ranging from kindergarten through high school. Netbook activities include, but are not limited to (Dell RM791 battery) :

• updating class blogs with news or announcements
• posting relevant class information on wikis
• web 2.0 activities
• research/data analysis
• online debates/class conversations
• educational games/brain training exercises
• creating or listening to educational podcasts
• word processing (Dell Vostro 1400 Battery)
• creation of presentations
• access online textbooks and assessments
• updating personal calendars and schedules
• collaboration via cloud computing
• keyboarding

Effects on student learning

The benefits of integrating netbooks in the classroom are many, but they are maximized when there is a 1-1 student to computer ratio (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

The benefits of a 1-1 laptop program are many. Studies have shown evidence that students with laptops do more, and higher quality writing, have access to more information, which improves data analysis skills, and that student centered learning is more easily accomplished. Student-centred learning, a growing trend in education recently, maintains a focus on increasing student motivation, cultivating critical thinking and problem solving, and fostering positive student collaboration (HP Pavilion DV7 Battery) .

It would seem that Netbooks make student centered learning an easier reality to accomplish.

Costs and logistics

Netbooks come with their share of costs and management issues. Most schools invest in some type of security cart, where the computers can be securely stored when not in use, and plugged into to recharge all at once. Recharging 30 or more computers at one time has the potential to overload electrical circuits, especially in older buildings (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ Battery) .

Having an electrician inspect the building's electrical infrastructure is advisable. The wireless capability of Netbooks is one of its most attractive features, but only if the school has a bandwidth connection capable of supporting 30 wireless Internet connections. With the limited storage capabilities of Netbooks, an investment in a server, or external database with a greater capacity for storing information may be needed (Hp 520 battery) .

If printing is a necessity, look for one that connects with Netbooks either wirelessly, or via USB cable. To maintain all this equipment, a successful Netbook program needs to have a highly trained and proficient IT service professional. Being familiar with the network, building infrastructure, and operating system of the computers are all absolutely necessary (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ61B battery) .

Training and staff development

In order to reap the full benefits of netbook technology, any teacher or staff member who will be using the netbooks will need to be trained how to perform basic maintenance, trouble shoot, navigate the mobile lab station, and function within the given operating system. Studies have shown that a lack of technical knowledge and support can lead to a reduction in technology usage in schools (HP Pavilion DV4 Battery) .

Training in student management, copyright laws, and integrating digital media across the curriculum would also help to maximize the benefits of an integrated netbook program. Classroom management with a set of Netbooks can be a challenge. Boundaries need to be firmly established from day one if you want to maintain a productive learning environment. Students need to be trained in proper use and handling of computers (Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery) .

Specific guidelines as to appropriate use, and digital citizenship also need to be defined in an official school technology policy statement.

Smartbook

Main article: Smartbook

A smartbook is a concept of a mobile device that falls between smartphones and netbooks, delivering features typically found in smartphones (always on, all-day battery life, 3G connectivity, GPS) in a slightly larger device with a full keyboard. Smartbooks will tend to be designed to work with online applications (Hp pavilion dv6000 battery) . Smartbooks are likely to be sold initially through mobile network operators, like mobile phones are today, with a wireless data plan.

Online shopping

Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller in real-time, without an intermediary service, over the Internet. If an intermediary service is present the process is called electronic commerce. An online shop, eshop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at abricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

The process is called Business-to-Consumer (B2C) online shopping. When a business buys from another business it is called Business-to-Business (B2B) online shopping. Both B2C and B2B online shopping are forms of e-commerce.

History

In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser. It opened for commercial use in 1991. In 1994 other advances took place, such as online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

During that same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. Also in 1994 the German company Intershop introduced its first online shopping system. In 1995 Amazon launched its online shopping site, and in 1996 eBay appeared (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery) .

Customers

In recent years, online shopping has become popular; however, it still caters to the middle and upper class. In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card. Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology. According to research found in the Journal of Electronic Commerce, if wefocus on the demographic characteristics of the in-home shopper, in general, the higher the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

An influential factor in consumer attitude towards non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it has been demonstrated that increased exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favourable attitudes towards new shopping channels.

Online shopping widened the target audience to men and women of the middle class. At first, the main users of online shopping were young men with a high level of income and a university education (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

This profile is changing. For example, in USA in the early years of Internet there were very few women users, but by 2001 women were 52.8% of the online population.

Logistics

Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly, or do a search across many different vendors using a shopping search engine (Dell RM791 battery) .

Once a particular product has been found on the web site of the seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities, by analogy with filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy) in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

Some stores allow consumers to sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this information only needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (though credit card numbers are not accepted by e-mail, for security reasons) (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Payment

Online shoppers commonly use credit card to make payments, however some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) :

• Debit card
• Various types of electronic money
• Cash on delivery (C.O.D., offered by very few online stores)
• Check
• Wire transfer/delivery on payment
• Postal money order
• Reverse message billing to mobile phones (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery)
• Gift cards
• Direct debit in some countries

Some sites will not allow international credit cards and billing address and shipping address have to be in the same country in which site does its business. Other sites allow customers from anywhere to send gifts anywhere. The financial part of a transaction might be processed in real time (for example, letting the consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfillment process (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .

Product delivery

Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can be delivered in the following ways.

• Download: This is the method often used for digital media products such as software, music, movies, or images.
• Shipping: The product is shipped to the customer's address.
• Drop shipping: The order is passed to the manufacturer or third-party distributor, who ships the item directly to the consumer (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .
• post: It can be also posted to any customer

bypassing the retailer's physical location to save time, money, and space.

• In-store pickup: The customer orders online, finds a local store using locator software and picks the product up at the closest store. This is the method often used in the bricks and clicks business model.
• In the case of buying an admission ticket one may get a code, or a ticket that can be printed out. At the premises it is made sure that the same right of admission is not used twice (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .

Shopping cart systems

• Simple systems allow the offline administration of products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace. These systems do not use an online database.
• A high end solution can be bought or rented as a standalone program or as an addition to an enterprise resource planning program. It is usually installed on the company's own webserver and may integrate into the existing supply chain so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated to a large extent (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .
• Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops at the same time.
• Open source shopping cart packages include advanced platforms such as Interchange, and off the shelf solutions as Avactis, Satchmo, osCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart, VirtueMart, Batavi andPrestaShop (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .
• Commercial systems can also be tailored to ones needs so that the shop does not have to be created from scratch. By using a framework already existing, software modules for different functionalities required by a web shop can be adapted and combined (Hp pavilion dv6000 battery) .

Online Shopping Malls

Like many online auction websites, many websites allow small businesses to create and maintain an online shops (ecommerce online shopping carts), without the complexity that involved in purchasing and developing an expensive stand alone ecommerce software solutions (Sony VGN-FW11S Battery) .

Design

Why does electronic shopping exist? For customers it is not only because of the high level of convenience, but also because of the broader selection; competitive pricing and greater access to information. For organizations it increases their customer value and the building of sustainable capabilities, next to the increased profits (Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery) .

Information load

Designers of online shops should consider the effects of information load. Mehrabian and Russel (1974) introduced the concept of information rate (load) as the complex spatial and temporal arrangements of stimuli within a setting. The notion of information load is directly related to concerns about whether consumers can be given too much information in virtual shopping environments (Toshiba Satellite P10 Battery) .

Compared with conventional retail shopping, computer shopping enriches the information environment of virtual shopping by providing additional product information, such as comparative products and services, as well as various alternatives and attributes of each alternative, etc.

Two major sub-dimensions have been identified for information load: complexity and novelty (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ210CE Battery) .

Complexity refers to the number of different elements or features of a site, which can be the result of increased information diversity. Novelty involves the unexpected, suppressing, new, or unfamiliar aspects of the site. A research by Huang (2000) showed that the novelty dimension kept consumers exploring the shopping sites, whereas the complexity dimension has the potential to induce impulse purchases (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

Consumer expectations

The main idea of online shopping is not just in having a good looking website that could be listed in a lot of search engines or the art behind the site. It also is not only just about disseminating information, because it is also about building relationships and making money. Mostly, organizations try to adopt techniques of online shopping without understanding these techniques and/or without a sound business model (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Rather than supporting the organization's culture and brand name, the website should satisfy consumer's expectations. A majority of consumers choose online shopping for a faster and more efficient shopping experience. Many researchers notify that the uniqueness of the web has dissolved and the need for the design, which will be user centered, is very important. Companies should always remember that there are certain things, such as understanding the customer's wants and needs, living up to promises, never go out of style, because they give reason to come back (Acer Aspire One battery) .

And the reason will stay if consumers always get what they expect. McDonaldization theory can be used in terms of online shopping, because online shopping is becoming more and more popular and a website that wants to gain more shoppers will use four major principles of McDonaldization: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control (Toshiba Satellite L305 Battery) .

Organizations, which want people to shop more online for them, should consume extensive amounts of time and money to define, design, develop, test, implement, and maintain the website. Also if a company wants their website to be popular among online shoppers it should leave the user with a positive impression about the organization, so consumers can get an impression that the company cares about them (Toshiba Satellite Pro M15 Battery) .

The organization that wants to be accepted in online shopping needs to remember, that it is easier to lose a customer then to gain one. Lots of researchers state that even when a site was "top-rated", it would go nowhere if the organization failed to live up to common etiquette, such as returning e-mails in a timely fashion, notifying customers of problems, being honest, and being good stewards of the customers' data (Toshiba Satellite M65 battery) .

Organizations that want to keep their customers or gain new ones should try to get rid of all mistakes and be more appealing to be more desirable for online shoppers. And this is why many designers of webshops consider research outcomes concerning consumer expectations. Research conducted by Elliot and Fowell (2000) revealed satisfactory and unsatisfactory customer experiences (Toshiba Satellite T4900 Battery) .

User interface

It is important to take the country and customers into account. For example, in Japan privacy is very important and emotional involvement is more important on a pension's site than on a shopping site. Next to that, there is a difference in experience: experienced users focus more on the variables that directly influence the task, while novice users are focusing more on understanding the information (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery) .

There are several techniques for the inspection of the usability. The ones used in the research of Chen & Macredie (2005) are Heuristic evaluation, cognitive walk through and the user testing. Every technique has its own (dis-)advantages and it is therefore important to check per situation which technique is appropriate (Toshiba Satellite A200 Battery) .

When the customers went to the online shop, a couple of factors determine whether they will return to the site. The most important factors are the ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features.

The System Itself

The Shopping Cart system works like the name suggests. Firstly, the customer must choose the product desired from the source. Once this step is done, an option to add the product to the cart will be given, this step will assure that the item you desire will be bought (Toshiba Satellite 1200 Battery) .

Once the customer has finished browsing for other potential purchases and has decided that the product he chose previously is the one that he wants to buy, the user must then follow the steps provided by the website in order to fulfill the transaction (normally requires an active account and/or registration method). Lastly, the order will then be sent to the desired address at a predicted date, which may alter depending on the speed of the process (Toshiba NB100 Battery) .

Market share

E-commerce B2C product sales totaled $146.4 billion in the United States in 2006, representing about 6% of retail product sales in the country. The $18.3 billion worth of clothes sold online represented about 10% of the domestic market.

For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries, adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods is limited by a lack of affordable Internet access (Toshiba Satellite M300 Battery) .

Advantages

Convenience

Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have Internet access both at work and at home. Other establishments such as internet cafes and schools provide access as well. A visit to a conventional retail store requires travel and must take place during business hours (Dell INSPIRON 1525 battery) .

In the event of a problem with the item – it is not what the consumer ordered, or it is not what they expected – consumers are concerned with the ease with which they can return an item for the correct one or for a refund. Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores (Dell Latitude D830 Battery) .

For example, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note: In the United Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from charging a restocking fee if the consumer cancels their order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Act 2000. (Dell Studio 1735 Battery) )

Information and reviews

Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation) (Dell Latitude D620 Battery) .

Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to buy.

Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ150E Battery) .

In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mail or phone calls to handle customer questions.

Price and selection

One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services with many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores) (Sony VGN-FZ31Z Battery) .

Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service.

Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise, though depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ38M Battery) .

Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more expensive than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers (especially those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free shipping on sufficiently large orders (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21m Battery) .

Disadvantages

Fraud and security concerns

Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher risk of fraud on the part of the merchant than in a physical store. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases using stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase. With a warehouse instead of a retail storefront, merchants face less risk from physical theft (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ18m Battery) .

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. Identity theft is still a concern for consumers when hackers break into a merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers. A number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s has prompted some U.S. states to require disclosure to consumers when this happens (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11m Battery) .

Computer security has thus become a major concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks.

Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into feeding private information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages (Dell Studio 1555 Battery) .

Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of the online shoppers; the existence of many different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a certain extent. A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using online retailer services (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) . These include:

• Sticking with known stores, or attempting to find independent consumer reviews of their experiences; also ensuring that there is comprehensive contact information on the website before using the service, and noting if the retailer has enrolled in industry oversight programs such as trust mark or trust seal (Dell Vostro 1500 Battery) .
• Before buying from a new company, evaluate the website by considering issues such as: the professionalism and user-friendliness of the site; whether or not the company lists a telephone number and/or street address along with e-contact information; whether a fair and reasonable refund and return policy is clearly stated; and whether there are hidden price inflators, such as excessive shipping and handling charges (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .
• Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy posted. For example note if the retailer does not explicitly state that it will not share private information with others without consent.
• Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with SSL (see above) when entering credit card information. If it does the address on the credit card information entry screen will start with "HTTPS" (Toshiba Satellite M60 battery) .
• Using strong passwords, without personal information. Another option is a "pass phrase," which might be something along the lines: "I shop 4 good a buy!!" These are difficult to hack, and provides a variety of upper, lower, and special characters and could be site specific and easy to remember (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the process goes poorly it can create a thorny situation. A few problems that shoppers potentially face include identity theft, faulty products, and the accumulation of spy ware. Whenever you purchase a product, you are going to be required to put in your credit card information and billing/shipping address. If the website is not secure a customers information can be accessible to anyone who knows how to obtain it (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

Most large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud more difficult, however, the criminals are constantly responding to these developments with new ways to manipulate the system. Even though these efforts are making it easier to protect yourself online, it is a constant fight to maintain the lead. It is advisable to be aware of the most current technology and scams out there to fully protect yourself and your finances (Dell Studio 1555 Battery) .

One of the hardest areas to deal with in online shopping is the delivery of the products. Most companies offer shipping insurance in case the product is lost or damaged; however, if the buyer opts not to purchase insurance on their products, they are generally out of luck. Some shipping companies will offer refunds or compensation for the damage, but it is up to their discretion if this will happen. It is important to realize that once the product leaves the hands of the seller, they have no responsibility (provided the product is what the buyer ordered and is in the specified condition) (Dell Inspiron 300M Battery) .

Lack of full cost disclosure

The lack of full disclosure with regards to the total cost of purchase is one of the concerns of online shopping. While it may be easy to compare the base price of an item online, it may not be easy to see the total cost up front as additional fees such as shipping are often not be visible until the final step in the checkout process (Dell XPS M1530 battery) .

The problem is especially evident with cross-border purchases, where the cost indicated at the final checkout screen may not include additional fees that must be paid upon delivery such as duties and brokerage. Some services such as the Canadian based Wishabiattempts to include estimates of these additional cost, but nevertheless, the lack of general full cost disclosure remains a concern (Dell XPS M2010 battery) .

Privacy

Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Different legal jurisdictions have different laws concerning consumer privacy, and different levels of enforcement. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise not to use consumer information for these purposes, or provide a mechanism to opt-out of such contacts (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

Many websites keep track of consumers shopping habits in order to suggest items and other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse to provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on consumers' credit cards (often without their knowledge) to add them to a catalog mailing list. This information is obviously not accessible to the merchant when paying in cash (HP Pavilion dv9000 battery) .

Product suitability

Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education, communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Other successful marketers use Drop shipping or affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate transactions of tangible goods without maintaining real inventory (Dell RM791 battery) .

Some non-digital products have been more successful than others for online stores. Profitable items often have a high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing purchases, they may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have shut-ins as their typical purchasers. Items which can fit in a standard mailbox — such as music CDs, DVDs and books — are particularly suitable for a virtual marketer (Dell Vostro 1400 Battery) .

Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online. Retailers often need to order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them at consumer outlets—in such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not compete with retail stores, only with other ordering systems (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

A factor for success in this niche can consist of providing customers with exact, reliable information about which part number their particular version of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by serial number.

Products less suitable for e-commerce include products that have a low value-to-weight ratio, products that have a smell, taste, or touch component, products that need trial fittings — most notably clothing — and products where colour integrity appears important (HP Pavilion DV7 Battery) .

Nonetheless, Tesco.com has had success delivering groceries in the UK, albeit that many of its goods are of a generic quality, and clothing sold through the internet is big business in the U.S. Also, the recycling program Cheapcycle sells goods over the internet, but avoids the low value-to-weight ratio problem by creating different groups for various regions, so that shipping costs remain low (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ Battery) .

Aggregation

High-volume websites, such as Yahoo!, Amazon.com and eBay, offer hosting services for online stores to all size retailers. These stores are presented within an integrated navigation framework. Collections of online stores are sometimes known as virtual shopping malls or online marketplaces (Hp 520 battery) .

Become.com is a product price comparison service and discovery shopping search engine with a mission to help shoppers make ideal buying decisions. Dulance was a price engine that specialized in searching for hard-to-find products often sold by small independent online retailers ("The Long Tail"). Mysupermarket aggregates inventory from the UK's four leading online groceries for shoppers to compare supermarket prices (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ61B battery) .

Many companies that don't have internal resources or expertise (such as do-it-yourself-ers) work with a web development firm to handle all or some of the facets of the online shopping set-up, including integration of the e-commerce platform and hosting. Full service digital companies can design, develop and set-up ecommerce sites so that they're up and running with existing merchant accounts or new ones (HP Pavilion DV4 Battery) ."

Information and communication technologies for development

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the field of socioeconomic development, international development and human rights. ICT4D concerns itself with directly applyinginformation technology approaches to poverty reduction (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

ICTs can be applied either in the direct sense, wherein their use directly benefits the disadvantaged population, or in an indirect sense, wherein the ICTs assist aid organisations or non-governmental organizations or governments or businesses in order to improve general socio-economic conditions. In many impoverished regions of the world, legislative and political measures are required to facilitate or enable application of ICTs, especially with respect to monopolistic communications structures and censorship laws (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

The concept of ICT4D can be interpreted as dealing with disadvantaged populations anywhere in the world, but is more typically associated with applications in developing countries. The field is becoming recognized as an interdisciplinary research area as can be noted by the growing number of conferences, workshops and publications (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery) .

Such research have been spurred on in part by the need for scientifically validated benchmarks and results, which can be used to measure the efficacy of current projects. Many international development agencies recognize the importance of ICT4D. For example the World Bank's GICT section has a dedicated team of some 200 staff working on these issues (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

A good example of the impact of ICTs on development are farmers getting better market price information and thus boosting their income. Community ecenter in the Philippines developed a website to promote its local products worldwide. Another example includes mobile telecommunications and radio broadcasting fighting political corruption in Burundi.

The dominant terminology used in this field is "ICT4D". Alternatives include ICTD and development informatics (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

History

A telecentre in Gambia

The history of ICT4D can, roughly, be divided into three periods:

• ICT4D 0.0: mid-1950s to late-1990s. During this period (before the creation of the term "ICT4D"), the focus was on computing / data processing for back office applications in large government and private sector organisations in developing countries (Dell RM791 battery) .
• ICT4D 1.0: late-1990s to late-2000s. The combined advent of the Millennium Development Goals and mainstream usage of the Internet in industrialised countries led to a rapid rise in investment in ICT infrastructure and ICT programmes / projects in developing countries. The most typical application was thetelecentre, used to bring information on development issues such as health, education, and agricultural extension into poor communities (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .
• More latterly, telecentres might also deliver online or partly online government services.
• ICT4D 2.0: late-2000s onwards. There is no clear boundary between phase 1.0 and 2.0 but suggestions of moving to a new phase include the change from the telecentre to the mobile phone as the archetypal application; less concern with e-readiness and more interest in the impact of ICTs on development; and more focus on the poor as producers and innovators with ICTs (as opposed to just consumers of ICT-based information) (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Projects

Anatomy

ICT4D initiatives and projects may be designed and implemented by international institutions, private companies (e.g. Intel's Classmate), governments (e.g. e-Mexico initiative), non-governmental organizations (e.g. International Institute for Communication and Development), or virtual organizations (e.g. One Laptop per Child). The projects can typically be evaluation research, matching a tool and a problem, exploratory research, or constructive research (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

ICT4D projects address one or more of the following issues:

• Access and Infrastructure: providing suitable computer hardware, operating systems, software, and connectivity to the internet. These would include the affordability of software and hardware, the ability to share software (as echoed in the Free Software movement), and the ability to sustainably connect to the internet (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .
• Capacity building and training in ICT: installing, maintaining, and developing hardware and software, digital literacy (technological literacy and informational literacy) and e-Awareness.
• Digital content and services: e-services (e-learning, e-health, e-business/e-commerce, e-Governance/e-Government), including concerns related to local-language solutions in computing, and theOpen Access agenda (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .
• Regulation of the ICT Sector and digital rights: Universal Access vs. monopolistic structures, Intellectual Property Rights, privacy, security, and digital identity.
• Ethics and Social Contexts
• Environment and Agriculture
• Free and Open Source Software (Dell Latitude E6400 battery)
• Gender and ICT
• Health and Medicine
• Policy and Social Analyses
• Technical Innovation for Development
• India Development Gateway Project (Agriculture, Primary Education, Social Welfare, Rural Energy, e-Governance and Health (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) )

Problems

Bad access roads and lack of power hamper ICT4D Projects in rural areas

Projects which deploy technologies in underdeveloped areas face well-known problems concerning crime, problems of adjustment to the social context, and also possibly infrastructural problems (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .

The literacy issue is one of the factors why projects fail in rural areas; proper education and training is needed to make the user at least understand how to manipulate the application to get the information they need. Constant follow up with the community is needed to monitor if the project is being used or implemented (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery) .

Projects in marginalised rural areas face the most significant hurdles. Since people in marginalised rural areas are at the very bottom of the pyramid, development efforts should make the most difference in this sector. ICTs have the potential to multiply development effects and are thus also meaningful in the rural arena. However introducing ICTs in these areas is also most costly, as the following barriers exist (Hp pavilion dv6000 battery) :

• Lack of Infrastructure: no power, no running water, bad roads
• Lack of Health Services: diseases like HIV, TB, malaria are more common.
• Lack of Employment: there are practically no jobs in marginalised rural areas.
• Hunger: hungry users have problems concentrating (Sony VGN-FW11S Battery) .
• Illiteracy: Text user interfaces do not work very well, innovative Human Computer Interfaces (see Human Computer Interaction) are required.
• Lack of means to maintain the project: some projects may be left to deteriorate in time because if a component gets broken they are costly to repair and maintain.
• Lack of support from the local government (Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery)
• Social Contexts: the potential users living in rural marginalised areas often cannot easily see the point of ICTs, because of social context and also because of the impediments of hunger, disease and illiteracy.
• Possibility of encouraging brain-drain.
• Corruption is one of the factors that hampers the implementation of ICT projects in rural areas (Toshiba Satellite P10 Battery) .
• Training and seminars must be conducted according to a suitable time for farmers, to make sure that their daily routine is not affected.
• Many applications are not user friendly.
• Projects are sometimes not being needs-driven (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ210CE Battery) .

The World Bank runs Information for Development Program (infoDev), whose Rural ICT Toolkit analyses the costs and possible profits involved in such a venture and shows that there is more potential in developing areas than many might assume. The potential for profit arises from two sources- resource sharing across large numbers of users (specifically, the publication talks about line sharing, but the principle is the same for, e.g. telecentres at which computing / Internet are shared) and remittances (specifically the publication talks about carriers making money from incoming calls, i.e. from urban to rural areas (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

Remittances are estimated to have a volume of upward of 250 billion USD and websites have been established to take advantage of this fact (e.g. Aryty, Philippines; Mukuru.com, Zimbabwe.

One of the main challenge in overcoming the digital divide is to widen the influence of the respective policies from those carried out by telecommunications authority, to the entire public sector (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

While most of the national digital agendas are led by national telecommunications authorities, such as the FCC and NTIA, the case of Chile shows that the funds managed by the telecom authority represent less than 5 % of the total funds spent by the overall government on ICT-related policies and projects (spread out over 22 governmental departments), such as carried out the national health department, the education ministry or the finance department (Acer Aspire One battery) .

The funds available for ICT4D throughout the public sector are a large multiple of those spent by technology and infrastructure authorities alone. Countries and international organizations usually do not know which agency manages which kinds of ICT-funds, and do not even make an effort to track these resources. Since ICT for development is about more than providing mere access to technologies (Toshiba Satellite L305 Battery) ,

the logical conclusion is to coordinate the funds and projects implemented by telecommunications and technologies authorities, with those managed by health, education, finance and defense authorities. The first task consists of taking inventory of the funds available to the entire public sector. This is generally not done and not even the actors and decision makers have a coherent picture about what is done. Double efforts and lack of synergies are the common result (Toshiba Satellite Pro M15 Battery) .

Lessons learned

What's crucial in making any ICT4D effort successful is effective partnership between four key stakeholders:

• Public sector (governments - from developed nations, developing nations, international bodies, and local governments)
• Private sector (companies belonging to members of the target audience, multi-national organizations wishing to expand their markets to the 4 billion people under US$2/day, pro-poor or social companies (Toshiba Satellite M65 battery) )
• Informal sector (NGOs, advocacy groups, think tanks)
• Representation from the target audience

InfoDev have published 6 lessons from an analysis of 17 their pilot programmes (see below). These lessons are backed by a variety of examples as well as a list of recommendations (Toshiba Satellite T4900 Battery) :

• Lesson 1: Involve target groups in project design and monitoring.
• Lesson 2: When choosing the technology for a poverty intervention project, pay particular attention to infrastructure requirements, local availability, training requirements, and technical challenges. Simpler technology often produces better results (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery) .
• Lesson 3: Existing technologies—particularly the telephone, radio, and television—can often convey information less expensively, in local languages, and to larger numbers of people than can newer technologies. In some cases, the former can enhance the capacity of the latter (Toshiba Satellite A200 Battery) .
• Lesson 4: ICT projects that reach out to rural areas might contribute more to the MDGs than projects based in urban areas.
• Lesson 5: Financial sustainability is a challenge for ICT-for-development initiatives.
• Lesson 6: Projects that focus on ICT training should include a job placement component (Toshiba Satellite 1200 Battery) .

Sustainability and scalability

A Geekcorps volunteer setting up a Wi-Fiantenna in Mali

A growing perspective in the field is also the need to build projects that are sustainable and scalable, rather than focusing on those which must be propped up by huge amounts of external funding and cannot survive for long without it. Sustaining the project's scalability is a huge challenge of ICT for development; how the target user will continue using the platform (Toshiba NB100 Battery) .

ICT4D is not one shot implementation but rather it is a complex process to be undertaken continuously, and the progress of each project evolves around the pervasive education for, and adaptability of, the technology

Also, many so-called "developing" countries, such as India (or other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, as also nations likeMalaysia, China, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and many others) have proved their skills in IT (information technology) (Toshiba Satellite M300 Battery) .

In this context, unless these skills are tapped adequately to build on ICT4D projects, not only will a lot of potential be wasted, but a key indigenous partner in the growth of this sector would be lost. Also there would be unnecessary negative impact on the balance of payments due to imports in both hardware and software (Dell INSPIRON 1525 battery) .

Currently, the main two perspectives coming out of this sector either emphasize the need for external aid to build infrastructure before projects can touch viability, or the need to develop and build on local talent. Both approaches are, of course, not mutually exclusive (Dell Latitude D830 Battery) .

Critics

Satellite Internet access via VSAT is a common form of connectivity in developing countries ([[Ghana, Ecamic project]] pictured)

As it has grown in popularity, especially in the international development sector, ICT4D has also increasingly come under criticism. For instance, questions have been raised about whether projects that have been implemented at enormous cost are actually designed to be scalable, or whether these projects make enough of an impact to produce noticeable change (Dell Studio 1735 Battery) .

In Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene argues that thousands of pilot projects have been seeded without regard to generalisability, scalability, and sustainability, implying that these projects will always require external funding to continue running and that their impact is limited.[21] This sentiment echoes a 2003 report by the World Bank (Dell Latitude D620 Battery) .

Further criticism on ICT4D concerns the impact of ICTs on traditional cultures and the so-called cultural imperialism which may be spread with ICTs. For example, young males are tempted to spend their recreational time playing violent computer games. It is emphasised that local language content and software seem to be good ways to help soften the impact of ICTs in developing areas (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ150E Battery) .

Many fear of the potential of ICT to seriously widen the Digital Divide and the gap between people with access to information economy and those without. This issue was brought to the forefront of the international agenda and was heavily discussed in some major international political meetings such as the G8 meeting in Okinawa, Japan last July, 2000 (Sony VGN-FZ31Z Battery) .

Anriette Esterhuysen, an advocate for ICT4D and human rights in South Africa , pointed out that some ICT4D projects often give more emphasis to how ICT can help its beneficiaries economically rather than helping them create a society where social justice and equal rights prevail. She believes that sustainable development can only be achieved if there are human rights and people can speak freely (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ38M Battery) .

Another point of criticism against ICT4D is that its projects are seldom environmentally friendly. Beneficiary communities are often given the responsibility to dispose of the toxic electronic scrap when an equipment breaks down beyond repair. Since transporting the equipment to a recycling facility is costly; the equipment is often disposed of improperly, thus contributing to the pollution of the environment (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ21m Battery) .

Technology

Graph of Internet users per 100 inhabitants between 1997 and 2007 by International Telecommunication Union

Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants growth in developed and developing world between 1997 and 2007

ICT4D projects typically try to employ low-cost, low-powered technology that can be sustainable in developing environment. The challenge is large, since it is estimated that 40 % of the world's population has less than US$ 20 per year available to spend on ICT (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ18m Battery) .

In Brazil, the poorest 20% of the population counts with merely US$ 9 per year to spend on ICT (US$ 0.75 per month) . This is the economic reality of these income segments in developing countries and the magnitude of the challenge to provide one laptop per child. From Latin America it is known that the borderline between ICT as a necessity good and ICT as a luxury good is roughly around the “magical number” of US$ 10 per person per month, or US$ 120 per year (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11m Battery) .

This is how much ICT people seem to strive for and this is therefore how much ICT everybody would like to have as a minimum. In light of this reality, telecentre, desktop virtualization and multiseat configurations are probably the most simple and common way to affordable computing as of today (Dell Studio 1555 Battery) .

ICT4D projects need to be properly monitored and implemented; the system's design and user interface should be suitable to the target users. ICT4D projects installed without proper coordination with its beneficiary community has a tendency to fall short of its main objectives. For example, the usage of ICT4D projects in the farming sector in third world countries, where a majority of the population are considered to be technologically illiterate; projects lie idle and sometimes get damaged or become obsolete (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

Furthermore, there should be a line of communication between the project coordinator and the user for immediate response to the query of, or the difficulty encountered by, the user. Addressing properly the problem will help encourage the user via interactivity and participation (Dell Vostro 1500 Battery) .

Notable events

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

A major event for ICT4D was the twin WSIS (WSIS) - lead organisation was the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The first part of WSIS took place in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2003 (with a large ICT4D exhibition and an ICT4D symposium co-ordinated by infoDev). The second part of WSIS took place in Tunis, Tunisia, in November 2005 (Dell Latitude D610 Battery) .

One of its chief aims of the WSIS process was to seek solutions to help bridge the so-called "digital divide" separating rich countries from poor countries by spreading access to the Internet in the developing world.

Perspectives on the WSIS are available elsewhere on Wikipedia, and this covers links to civil society, Tunis 2005, US priorities at WSIS, media responses, Tunis conference developments, roles for business and government, digital divide issues, the digital divide and the digital dilemma,common ground, a civil society study on WSIS, and external links (Toshiba Satellite M60 battery) .

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)Stocktaking

WSIS Stocktaking is a publicly accessible database of ICT-related implementation activities, initiated during the Tunis phase of WSIS. WSIS Stocktaking Database has become an effective tool for the exchange of information on the projects in relation to the implementation of the 11 Action Lines. It is worth mentioning that many of entries reflect more than one flagship initiative and project carried out by the WSIS Stakeholders (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

Read more. All Stakeholders are welcomed: Governments, International Organizations, Private Sector, Civil Society, Others.