Mobilis: After the Simputer - a low cost laptop
New Delhi: Mobilis, a low cost laptop computer priced at less than Rs10,000, and weighing less than a kilo will be available in the Indian markets in three months.

Unlike its foreign designed counterparts the Mobilis has been designed keeping the Indian market and conditions in mind.

The Mobilis needs no UPS and is apparently less prone to viruses and has a six-hour battery life. And those who feel that current PCs have an obvious English bias, can take heart from the fact that this new model can be used in Hindi, Kannada and Marathi. Later it will also be available in almost all other Indian languages.

"It has built-in software, so it will not get obsolete," said Vinay Deshpande, chairman, Encore. Mobilis has been produced by Encore with the backing of the CSIR.

Encore had earlier launched the Simputer.
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New model of electric car Reva to be launched today
New Delhi: Indian scientists have come up with an improved version of the indigenously produced electric car, Reva. The car was showcased at Monaco at an event and would be launched on the Technology Day on May 11.

The two-seater car, a joint effort of Reva Electric Company, Chhabria Design and Encore Software, marks an important milestone in public-private partnership. The improved version runs 200 km per charge in comparison to the earlier version, which runs 80 km per charge. The car has a maximum speed of 120 km/hr and runs on sodium-nickel chloride battery instead of lead acid battery. It also has touch screen display system and GPS-based navigation system, Internet and MP3 facility.
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Ruia to acquire 27 per cent stake in Jessop
Kolkata: The Ruia Group has said it would pick up the remaining 27 per cent stake of the disinvested public sector engineering major, Jessop Engineers, from the government in the next few months.

According to company officials the group has written to the government for purchase of the balance stake and the government has also initiated a move for the sale of the remaining stake it holds.

Following the acquisition of the remaining stake, official said, the company would go for restructuring of its balance sheet to wipe out the accumulated losses so that the ailing former public sector company could come out of BIFR.

The Ruia Group acquired 72 per cent stake in Jessop about a couple of years ago through the NDA government's disinvestment process for a consideration of Rs18.18 crores.
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BPL: Company Law Board rejects Nambiar's plea
Chennai: The Company Law Board (CLB) has rejected BPL Group patriarch T P G Nambiar's plea for restraining the sale of shares in BPL's three telecom ventures controlled by son-in-law Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

In its order on an interlocutory petition, the Additional Principal Bench, Chennai, however, asked the three BPL telecom companies - BPL Communications, BPL Mobile Communication and BPL Cellular, to file a status report to the Bench "in the event of any change in the shareholding of these firms within seven days of every such change."

The CLB has also asked the three companies to produce all statutory and other records since 1999 for authentication.

Nambiar had petitioned the CLB seeking to modify the March 17 order, saying "the order does not in anyway restrain shareholders of BPL Communication, BPL Mobile Communication and BPL Cellular from selling their shares."

BPL Communication is the holding company of BPL Mobile Communication and BPL Cellular. BPL Mobile Communication is the cellular operator for Mumbai while BPL Cellular is the cellular operator for Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai).
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Orchid in marketing pact with Par Pharma
Mumbai: Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd has signed a fresh marketing pact with US-based Par Pharma for four non-antibiotic products for distribution in the US generics market. These four products fall under the central nervous system and anti-emetic segments, Orchid informed Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company has also signed a deal with Phoenix for a unique veterinary cephalosporin product covering the US, Canada and Mexico markets, it added. The agreements come in the wake of two other major deals with Alpharma and Stada announced by the company recently in the non-antibiotics space.

These recent agreements covered several blockbuster products currently under patent and involve a development funding revenue stream of $25 million in the aggregate to the company payable in milestone linked installments between 2005 and 2007.

The company will also receive profit share as the product get commercialised. These products account for a current retail market size of $25 billion, in US and select European countries, it added.
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LML to launch 100 cc bike in August
New Delhi: LML Ltd has announced that it would introduce a 100 cc motorcycle in August and roll out four-stroke scooter models by next year in order to boost sales.

LML currently makes motorcycles in the 110 cc, 125 cc and 150 cc segments.

Company iofficials also said that in order to capture a market share of 10 per cent in the next 3-4 years, the company also plans to expand its production capacity for four-stroke two-wheelers to 720,000 units by March 2007. LML would double the capacity for motorcycles to 400,000 units by October to meet demand.

Further, as part of its expansion plan, the company's existing production facilities - which have an annual capacity of 450,000 units for two-stroke geared scooters - will be restructured to produce both four-stroke geared and gearless scooters in the next two years.
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Apple unleashes the Mac OS Tiger
New Delhi: Apple has launched the new version of its Mac OS X operating system, dubbed `Tiger', boasting of over 200 new features including Spotlight, a desktop search technology that lets users instantly find anything stored on their Mac, including documents, e-mails, contacts and images.

Tiger's other new features includes Dashboard, a collection of Internet-enabled programmes to give Mac users instant information on airline flights, movie times, stock prices and other data.

Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" would be available with immediate effect at Apple's retail stores and through authorised resellers for a price of Rs7,260 for a single user license. The Mac OS X Tiger Family Pack is a single-residence, five-user licence that would be available at a retail price Rs11,200.

Tiger requires a minimum of 256 MB of memory and is designed to run on any Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G5, G4, or G3 processor and built-in firewire.
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