Original story

Compumedia - 29.6.2003

Sales of wind-up clockwork computer exceed all forecasts

The Namibian manufacturer NamibPow reports it is unable to keep up with demand for its wind-up computers.

NamibPow has already sold and received advance orders for upwards of 80 million units, even though the first machines designed for the consumer market only left the company’s Windhoek factories six months ago. At present the assembly lines are capable of turning out approximately 12 million machines a year. The great majority of orders for the new computer have come from Third World countries.

NamibPow has announced plans for expansion at the plants in order to raise production to 30 million units annually by June 2005. CEO Joseph Mubala commented to journalists that even with this expansion programme it will be necessary for the company to distribute manufacturing licences to certain other countries. He said that licences would be granted only to nationalized companies operating in underdeveloped countries, since “the intention is not that the international corporate moguls would simply have another chance to reap profits at the cost of the developing world.”

Annual output of the company’s patented wind-up clockwork radio receivers in Namibia is around 19 million units, and more than 40 million more are manufactured under licensing agreements at plants throughout the Third World. NamibPow is nowadays Namibia’s largest company in terms of turnover, and annual returns are outrunning even those of the entire mining industry in the country.

UNESCO last year launched an experiment developed in the late 1990s by computer guru Nicholas Negroponte, in which villagers in several African countries are being educated by geostationary orbit satellites and clockwork computer terminals. A total of 31 villages are involved in the project. The electrical energy required for satellite earth-stations is produced either with solar panels or pedal-operated generators.

Toteuma-arvio 2026

Toteuma lyhyesti

  • Ilmiön toteuma: 4/5
  • Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 1998–2008
  • Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, erittäin vahvasti
  • Ilmiön ydin: edullinen ja vähän energiaa tarvitseva tietokone tuo digitaalisen tiedon myös sähköverkon ulkopuolisille ja pienituloisille käyttäjille.

Halvat kannettavat laitteet, aurinkolataus ja matkapuhelinverkot ovat laajentaneet digitaalisten palvelujen saavutettavuutta kehitysmaissa. Käsikampi ei muodostunut valtavirraksi, mutta se oli vain yksi kuviteltu energiaratkaisu.

Johtopäätös: saavutettavan ja verkosta riippumattoman tietotekniikan ydin toteutui, vaikka veivimekanismi ei.