São Paulo – A low-cost computer with dozens of applications and numerous uses, even without an internet connection. Such is Endless, designed by an eponymous company based in the United States, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Guatemala. The computer has been launched this month, features applications in Arabic designed for Arab companies, and is already being used in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
“Four and a half years ago I was in India and I realized that there many people had TVs at home but no computers. I thought the TV could be used as a monitor and we could rework the smartphone technology to make the computers affordable,” “said Matt Dalio, the CEO and Product director for Endless, about how the idea for the computer came about.
Endless took three years to create and Dalio declines to disclose development costs. “It was costly,” he said. The outcome, however, is a computer that is actually rather affordable compared to others, with the simplest 32 GB version going for US$ 169. The machine has its own operating system, Endless OS.
The computer features a range of apps including a text and spreadsheet editor, games and a photo editor, among others. Apart from the traditional apps, the company developed several tailor-made apps for users in emerging markets.
One of Endless’ most interesting features is its ability to access internet contents even with no web access. “Many people have no quality internet access. Either it (the connection) is slow or depends on 3G, which is expensive. Regular computers are all but useless without an internet connection,” Dalio muses.
To work out this issue, Dalio and his team packed the Endless with over 100 applications providing everything from health tips to recipes that can be accessed offline. They also installed the contents of some websites into the actual machines.
“Wikipedia fits into 1GB. We pre-installed Wikipedia in all of the computers. The Khan Academy [a website featuring exercises in math, science and computer programming, among other subjects] fits into 6GB,” the executive explained regarding the offline contents available in the machines.
Middle East and North Africa
Dalio says trips were made to several emerging countries to pinpoint people’s needs when it came to computers, including Arab and Asian countries.
One of Endless’ tools originated in a trip to Morocco. “I was in a café near the desert with a group of young people and when I asked them what websites they were familiar with, they replied Facebook, Google and Youtube. They didn’t know any other sites,” Dalio revealed.
That led to the development of Discovery Center, a tool that lists website recommendations under categories such as education, for instance.
For the local market, the computer also features apps in Arabic, and according to the CEO of Endless, new additions are in the works. “We plan on having even more localized software,” he said. The company is working with local partners to this end.
Local players were also responsible for breaking the Endless into the Jordanian and Emirati markets. In the UAE, the first Endless was sold by the local distributor to a housemaid. She came back to buy one for a friend and ultimately, over 100 units were sold through word of mouth in the Gulf country.
Sara Baddar, the Projects manager for Endless in Jordan, says the low-cost computer is being used at the Za’atari and Azraq refugee camps and in urban areas in the capital Amman, by low-income Jordanians and Syrian refugee children.
Baddar tells that in urban settings, the Syrian kids are unable to attend public schools for lack of documents. Thus, the Endless is helping with their education.
“They are learning new skills, especially math and typing,” the executive said. “They are learning by using the apps and games in our computers. This is a very powerful thing and it’s helping fill a gap in the lives of these children, who cannot get a formal education,” she explained. She says many refugee children had no activities throughout their day, and now spend their time using the apps to learn.
In order to expand in the Arab countries, the company is wagering on looking for new distributors and partnering up with ministries of Education and schools. “The majority of the Middle East overlaps with the market we are targeting,” Dalio said when inquired about what other Arab countries are potential markets for the Endless.
In Jordan, according to Baddar, the Endless is already available at a computer store showroom in Amman to pique public interest. The machine is also being shown to people from NGOs.
The Endless company was founded in 2012 to facilitate access to personal computers in developing countries. At this time, the firm has 60 personnel, including Brazil’s Marcelo Sampaio and Camila Soares, who are also partners.
It’s worth noting that the Endless computer is sold without a monitor and can be plugged into TV sets. Apart from the starter version priced at US$ 169, there is a 32 GB version with WiFi and Bluetooth, for US$ 189, and the 500 GB version with WiFi and Bluetooth, which goes for US$ 229.
For additional information on Endless go to https://endlessm.com/
The computer can be purchased online at www.kickstarter.com/projects/1381437927/endless-computers
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
