"One Tablet Per Child" tablet manufacturer goes bankrupt

[cmiuc]

now lets see... rice farmers marched to bkk, red, yellow and other colors have marched to bkk... i guess now its time to see all the kids march to bkk too... for some should just make it a family affair... "Hey kids! how you like to do some protesting today?" "chai krub...snook dee!!"

about the size of all this protesting going on... Amazing..... Thailand...

[Johnnie99]

Good job they had already paid the 'comfort money' and the invoice ... oh wait ....

[cmiuc]

Dear parents, hit the streets and block the local roads on the school ways, because your 1st graders are getting cheated as much as the rice and rubber farmers... pleeeeaaaaase. Or block the schools and teachers' offices or school directories all together, because your kids won't learn anything useful in their lives for their whole school life anyway.

... your kids can learn better from LIN, Facebook or youtube anyway than from any form of what is called EDUCATION aka brainwashing test-oriented, FAIL-or-NO-FAIL policy....

EXACTLY RIGHT!!!.

[renaissanc]

No doubt the company had to pay so much in commission to the politicians that it could not afford to build the tablets.

[MaxLee]

Dear parents, hit the streets and block the local roads on the school ways, because your 1st graders are getting cheated as much as the rice and rubber farmers... pleeeeaaaaase. Or block the schools and teachers' offices or school directories all together, because your kids won't learn anything useful in their lives for their whole school life anyway.

... your kids can learn better from LIN, Facebook or youtube anyway than from any form of what is called EDUCATION aka brainwashing test-oriented, FAIL-or-NO-FAIL policy....

EXACTLY RIGHT!!!.

If you want to learn something practical nowadays, browse the internet and social media ... No kidding.

[bkkjames]

Rice, tablets, floods, amnesty, 3 trillion baht infrastructure. The hits just keep on coming.

[geriatrickid]

There will be a lot more to this story in the coming days ......

You bet.

Maybe we can have an explanation as to what happened the bankruptcy trustee, and what happened to the reorganization plan as required under Section 87 of the New Chinese Bankruptcy Act. of 1986. This "bankruptcy" will make legal history, because a company just doesn't go bankrupt in China like that. There are legal steps that must be followed, and at the very least, the company's situation would have been known some time ago.

Interesting that this comes after the election, isn't it.

[fakename]

But hey! dont forget the bomb detectors! They are really saving lives, not to mention a few people making money!

[Thait Spot]

Choosing this small non-tablet specialising company is rather like picking a Chinese tourist company to sell rice to.

Look beyond the smoke.

Follow the money

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yes it would be very interesting to see the shareholder roll of the Shenzhen Yitao Intelligence Control Company. Also wouldn't be surprised if the funds for the tablet contract were already paid and the company still went bankrupt after paying a likely fat shareholders' dividend.

One for the opposition to ask the government for the details and financials...........

[Suriya4]

No doubt the company had to pay so much in commission to the politicians that it could not afford to build the tablets.

Yingluck drive such a hard bargain that the Chinese company cannot make a profit.

[american12bthai]

According to some news article Thailand spend the most in the WORLD on education lol

Makes me wonder why I have I pay for everything at my kids semi government school

true,

each school gets roughly a million baht to hire english teachers. fyi.

[DrTuner]

Daughter got one from school, never been used. Haven't found a custom ROM to put the Google stuff in it yet, ought to be good business for someone.

So, who was the middle man Thaksin used to skim off the cream on this deal ?

[ginjag]

According to some news article Thailand spend the most in the WORLD on education lol

Makes me wonder why I have I pay for everything at my kids semi government school

true,

each school gets roughly a million baht to hire english teachers. fyi.

What-each school ??? where ??? in what counties (jangwats) ??? Issan

[newermonkey]

So how are the kids meant to keep up to date with their Facebook accounts now for Christs sake?!!

[2008bangkok]

According to some news article Thailand spend the most in the WORLD on education lol

Makes me wonder why I have I pay for everything at my kids semi government school

true,

each school gets roughly a million baht to hire english teachers. fyi.

Sorry but not havin that at all 1 mill per school lol never seen it

[gemini81]

Karma is hitting PTP hard in every direction. Knew it would, and glad it is. They do everything to lose face, and it is the one thing they do well. Everything they are associated with is an epic failure. Special thanks to Chalerm too.

[mikemac]

Oh my lord.

Please don't tell me that they hadn't made an 80% deposit on the next delivery.

It's more likely that they hadn't paid them at all!!!!

That's probably why they went broke !

[mightyatom]

Can one assume that all the paperwork connected to the deal is being shredded as we speak and certain board officials disappearing into the night?

Making sure of course that all links with Shin Corp are covered up before any investigation is started by the incumbent non-PTP government.

Being a businessman myself, I highly doubt any company would be going broke when they are getting 19,000 baht for each tablet that would normally retail under 2,000 baht to anyone else. Unless of course they really were not getting the 19,000 per tablet, I wonder where the rest of the money is going then?

Edited February 4, 2014 by mightyatom

[SOTIRIOS]

.....what was the price tag on this one............

....money delivered.....???

....then bankrupt.....???

....any more details...???

...or does anyone care anyway...???

[rotary]

I am concerned this might affect the under the table payments in the future from this deal

[Sydebolle]

Well, the Peruvian model proved the whole idea as backfiring. In Thailand the situation is slightly different. Why make money on grown-ups only if the kiddies are around.
Honestly, does anyone think that there were some "honest" intentions behind this fart of an idea. It make a few people possibly very rich:
- Thai procurement getting its little 30% share of the cake

- Chinese dealer, who dealt only and kept a part of the take

- Chinese manufacturer, who delivered less than the down-payment for the crappy equipment

And it would not come as a surprise, if the Chinese were related through the "Hainan"-link to their Thai "brothers and sisters".
Pathetic - the real losers, once more again: the children, the future of this country, the future tax payers

[lucjoker]

Oh my lord.

Please don't tell me that they hadn't made an 80% deposit on the next delivery.

It's more likely that they hadn't paid them at all!!!!

Depends on who owns that factory.

There never was a factory !

It was all set up !

555555

[mikemac]

Throwing these cheap charlie tablets at kids and claiming it will do wonders for the education system was never anything more than a PTP vote grab. What a despicable organization.

Money would have been much better spent on improving the quality of the Thai teachers (they are nowhere near Western standards) spending on good text and writing books, classroom conditions - lighting, power, furniture etc, supply good food for students, subsidize school uniforms.

I am not surprised yet another scheme or scam has blown up in the government's face. What does surprise me is that people actually vote for them.

[thaimat]

There will be a lot more to this story in the coming days ......

You bet.

Maybe we can have an explanation as to what happened the bankruptcy trustee, and what happened to the reorganization plan as required under Section 87 of the New Chinese Bankruptcy Act. of 1986. This "bankruptcy" will make legal history, because a company just doesn't go bankrupt in China like that. There are legal steps that must be followed, and at the very least, the company's situation would have been known some time ago.

Interesting that this comes after the election, isn't it.

It would also be interesting to find out who owns Intech Thai Technology, the Thai "partner company.

[bobnuts]

There will be a lot more to this story in the coming days ......

You bet.

Maybe we can have an explanation as to what happened the bankruptcy trustee, and what happened to the reorganization plan as required under Section 87 of the New Chinese Bankruptcy Act. of 1986. This "bankruptcy" will make legal history, because a company just doesn't go bankrupt in China like that. There are legal steps that must be followed, and at the very least, the company's situation would have been known some time ago.

Interesting that this comes after the election, isn't it.

It would also be interesting to find out who owns Intech Thai Technology, the Thai "partner company.

That's likely where the money now sits.

[Longtooth]

"Planned Obsolescence with Golden Parachute" I LOVE newspeak!

[The Deerhunter]

Oh my lord.

Please don't tell me that they hadn't made an 80% deposit on the next delivery.

According to the books, hey probably did, but to what account bank, branch and number??

[The Deerhunter]

Oh my lord.

Please don't tell me that they hadn't made an 80% deposit on the next delivery.

According to the books, they possibly did, but maybe that is the problem? Perhaps the maker never got it??

[shaurene]

I just peed my pants laughing. Came at a good time for the governments other rice type cockup. In the first place teach the Kidd's to count, do arithmetic manually like we did at school, when I am out shopping they say how much, I give either couple hundred or 1,000 bt note, they do it on the till, I tell them before they have the answer from the till how much change to give me. The Kidd's do not know what to do with out a calculator. We have a shop and go to Makro to buy still for the shop, my wife picks an item with 6-12 in the pack and price is say 105 for the full pack, she ask's me how much each are they, I just workout in my head. Probably the bloody teachers do not know how to do it.

[steveyinasia]

According to some news article Thailand spend the most in the WORLD on education lol

Makes me wonder why I have I pay for everything at my kids semi government school

I think is was a report of the Education budget being the highest and we know in Thailand, budgeted amounts do not go to the targeted recipients, just ask the farmers as well.