Hewlett-Packard Co’s Indian partner HCL Corp Pvt Ltd, the New Delhi company that opened for business in the US a few years back hoping to sell Unix systems, has unveiled the first domestic multimedia system with features tailored specifically to the Indian market. The former Hindustan Computers Ltd calls the machine BeanStalk and says it can be used to send electronic mail, teach nursery rhymes and pick up yoga lessons. HCL expects more than 1m Indian homes to have a computer within four years and said the flexible BeanStalk can be a tutor, a public platform, a library, a video disk player, a debating forum, a publishing society, an answering machine, a software vendor and even a recording studio. BeanStalk will also be usable as an Internet terminal when state-run overseas phone company Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd begins offering Internet access next month. The computers are being made by the HCL-Hewlett-Packard Ltd joint venture and cost the equivalent of from $1,600 to $3,200.
