So in a world where everyone buzz about smartphones and tablets,
I'm here to tell you about how we are building desktop computers.
"Why desktop computers?" everyone always asks.
The answer is because you cannot enter the knowledge economy
without being able to write a CV,
to do a school research report, to do a budget.
To enter the modern economy, you must have computing literacy.
Four and a half billion people do not have access to that.
Four and a half billion people.
What's so incredible is that its actually not that hard to solve it.
What does that mean?
How do four and a half billion people not have it,
and it's not that hard to solve it?
The answer comes in the form of technology that people already have,
everyone already has a television, that's a monitor.
and attached to those televisions are set-top boxes, cable boxes,
satellite TV boxes,
and that little box is where the magic takes place.
If you take an iBook from the year 2000,
your average set-top box today has four times the storage
and 60 times the RAM as an iBook in the year 2000.
It is a computer.
So, why is it that all these computers, monitors, set-top boxes as CPUs
are not actually computers?
And the answer is actually really simple: software.
We spent about a year trying to take existing solutions
and put it on set-top boxes and make that happen.
After a year, we threw it all away, gave up
and spent the subsequent three years building that from scratch ourselves.
A desktop operating system that is simple enough
that it doesn't require training, it doesn't get viruses,
that runs on this cheap processors making a computer cheaper than a tablet
and most importantly, that is built for users in emerging markets,
because people in emerging markets not only can’t afford computers
they can’t afford access to fundamentals
like education, health, and livelihood.
So, a computer can be an answer to that.
I'm supposed to get on stage and tell you stories about the seamstress
that can now have access to shopping from microfinance loans
and the farmer who can figure out
what to plant, when to irrigate, and where to sell.
But in the audience tonight, I actually found a new hero of mine.
He is a little 12 year old boy,
who eight months ago couldn't speak English
and decided to teach himself English through his computer
and I'd like to have you meet him.
Jimmy please welcome you on stage.
(Applause)
Jimmy Calí: Hello!
Matt Dalio: Tell me about yourself Jimmy.
JC: Hi everybody, my name is Jimmy, I'm 12 years old,
and I really like to play videogames and read books.
MD: So, how did you learn English?
I learned English by practicing, reading and listening.
I already ended the program Duolingo, I practiced in videos,
Skype, and writing on Whatsapp.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
So he was having a fluent conversation, I speak Spanish,
and the conversation was easier to had in English that it was in Spanish
because his conversational English is so good.
Tell me, how much English did you know eight months ago?
JC: I [started] learning eight months ago, in March last year.
MD: How much did you know eight months ago?
LC: Nothing.
(Laughter)
MD: You were saying something about programming?
JC: Yes I am learning programming in Khan Academy.
MD: Programing? Tell me, what sort of programming?
JC: Animation. I really like it,
it's very hard, but I like it, and I always practice it.
MD: My new hero.
(Applause)
There are a billion Jimmies about to get technology.
It's incredible what we are about to see as human kind.
The reason I'm on this stage is to make a call to the entrepreneurs of the world.
The this of that, the Uber of X has been done before.
Meanwhile, emerging markets have so many needs and so many opportunities.
WhatsApp sold for 19 billion dollars,
the largest startup acquisition in history.
Why?
Because it gave the power of communication to 450 million emerging market users.
M-Pesa is a mobile payments platform
that currently runs 31% of Kenya's GDP through it.
The opportunities of our era exist here, in Guatemala,
and emerging market countries just like it,
and this child right here is testament to what that means.
(Laughter)
Thank you all. Jimmy, you are a hero.
JC: Thank you very much.
(Applause)