DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – A huge banner in Davos trumpets India’s launch of a $35 tablet computer and U.S. group Medtronic Inc is hoping to launch a similar low-cost revolution in medical devices like pacemakers.

Chief Executive Omar Ishrak plans is using this week’s annual World Economic Forum (WEF) to brainstorm on how to bring cost-effective implantable devices to patients in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

The world’s biggest medical devices company has an ambitious goal to develop new and cost-effective products such as pacemakers for the poor, while simultaneously selling its existing ones to the growing middle classes in emerging markets.

“One has to be realistic about affordability in the under-served segment,” he said in an interview, adding that the new generation of simpler devices should be five to 10 times cheaper than current high-specification products.

“To accelerate healthcare access one has to think about disruptive methods — disruptive technology and disruptive delivery mechanisms,” he said.

While the work is still at an early stage, Ishrak has already identified heart pacemakers as the most likely area for initial research and development.

“I’d like to challenge all our businesses to start thinking this way but the area where we are furthest ahead is perhaps pacemakers, where we’re thinking of real disruption in terms of cost and simplicity,” he said.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The rich and powerful of the world were divided at their annual huddle on Wednesday over Barack Obama’s threat to raise their taxes, with some saying policies that go after the wealthy will hurt growth, but others saying Obama was right to address capitalism’s imbalances.

Obama’s State of the Union address focused on channeling middle class anger at inequality, including a call for a 30 percent minimum tax on millionaires that could make the wealth of Republican rival Mitt Romney a central election issue.

It was delivered on the eve of World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, which found many of the world’s titans of industry and politics in reflective mood, focusing more than ever on the question of whether capitalism needs to be more fair if it is to be successful.

Many of the wealthy at Davos made clear they don’t like being in the president’s crosshairs.

“I don’t think any presidential election in the history of America has been won on the politics of envy and I think if anything it divides the country more than unites it,” said John Studzinski, senior managing director of investment and advisory firm Blackstone Group.

But others said the criticism was misguided.

“I liked the speech,” said Roger Altman, chairman of investment advisory group Evercore. “I can understand why some people in the business community, particularly gauging the reaction to it, may not like it. But I thought it was a reasonable speech.