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Sheetal.Pandey
$35 will be difficult i guess from business perspective..but lets wait and ...
iniewski
Sounds this is a real thing and obviously for $35 you can't expect much ...
India promises $35 tablet computer
Kariyatil Krishnadas
10/5/2011 1:11 PM EDT
BANGALORE, India—The Indian government Wednesday (Oct. 5) launched a tablet computer for students priced at a subsidized rate of $35 and made by a hitherto unknown manufacturer, Datawind Ltd., a developer of wireless Web access products based in the U.K. The same gadget will be sold to the general public at a retail price of $60.
The version for students will not have an embedded cellular modem or SIM card, but both versions will run on Google’s Android platform.
Called "Aakash" (or sky), the gadget will have Wi-Fi connectivity, cloud-based storage, 256 MB of RAM, a 32-GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports.
Both versions of the tablet will run on the Android 2.2 (Froyo) platform. Both will feature a 7-inch resistive touch screen with 800x480 resolution, weigh about 350 grams and include Wi-Fi connectivity for internet access and cloud storage.
The tablet supports formats such as DOC, DOCX, PDF and PPTX and has a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack. Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind, told a television channel that the product will be made in India and has gone through extensive product testing. "This is a made-in-India product, with the screen coming from a South Korean company and the chip from a U.S. company. It has 800 components and the screen cost the most, under $10. This (product) will revolutionize the world," Tuli was quoted as saying.
The tablet has a 2,100mAh battery which can reportedly last for two to three hours depending on the type of usage.
More details of the product were not available. Kapil Sibal, federal minister for education and information technology, said Aakash will be available throughout India. But many in India were sceptical of Sibal's announcement, given that even primary school education has for decades been considered insufficient in both quantity and quality in India.
In 2007, India's government said it was working to make available a $10 laptop computer. It later said the laptop would cost $100. It is not known if the $35 tablet computer is related to that project.
The $100 laptop was being developed by scientific and educational agencies that were run by the government. India's government said it will have the $35 tablet computer further improved by government-owned research institutions, if necessary.
According to news reports from New Delhi, where the product was launched, Datawind claimed it will make a profit at a retail price. The company said the version for students will be subsidized by the government.
One company that dropped out of the race for developing the $35 tablet said it did so because it did not see how it could make the product available—despite the subsidy borne by the government—at a decent profit.
The version for students will not have an embedded cellular modem or SIM card, but both versions will run on Google’s Android platform.
Called "Aakash" (or sky), the gadget will have Wi-Fi connectivity, cloud-based storage, 256 MB of RAM, a 32-GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports.
Both versions of the tablet will run on the Android 2.2 (Froyo) platform. Both will feature a 7-inch resistive touch screen with 800x480 resolution, weigh about 350 grams and include Wi-Fi connectivity for internet access and cloud storage.
The tablet supports formats such as DOC, DOCX, PDF and PPTX and has a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack. Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind, told a television channel that the product will be made in India and has gone through extensive product testing. "This is a made-in-India product, with the screen coming from a South Korean company and the chip from a U.S. company. It has 800 components and the screen cost the most, under $10. This (product) will revolutionize the world," Tuli was quoted as saying.
The tablet has a 2,100mAh battery which can reportedly last for two to three hours depending on the type of usage.
More details of the product were not available. Kapil Sibal, federal minister for education and information technology, said Aakash will be available throughout India. But many in India were sceptical of Sibal's announcement, given that even primary school education has for decades been considered insufficient in both quantity and quality in India.
In 2007, India's government said it was working to make available a $10 laptop computer. It later said the laptop would cost $100. It is not known if the $35 tablet computer is related to that project.
The $100 laptop was being developed by scientific and educational agencies that were run by the government. India's government said it will have the $35 tablet computer further improved by government-owned research institutions, if necessary.
According to news reports from New Delhi, where the product was launched, Datawind claimed it will make a profit at a retail price. The company said the version for students will be subsidized by the government.
One company that dropped out of the race for developing the $35 tablet said it did so because it did not see how it could make the product available—despite the subsidy borne by the government—at a decent profit.
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pixies
10/5/2011 1:47 PM EDT
So what happened to the $10/$100 laptops? A product has to make money to sustain itself. If the goal is to provide poor kids with access to computer and internet, the mobility should not be a priority. It is perfectly feasible to build a reasonably good PC under $100 from refurbished parts.
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dylan.mcgrath
10/5/2011 2:21 PM EDT
It sounds to me that at least some people feel that the $100 laptop project morphed into or was folded into the $35 tablet. But I don't think anyone has said that officially.
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iniewski
10/5/2011 2:30 PM EDT
I am highly skeptical that you can sell it for $35 and still make a profit...what microprocessor will be used? Kris
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seaEE
10/5/2011 10:35 PM EDT
And it probably includes the $35 mail-in rebate.
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eewiz
10/5/2011 2:31 PM EDT
I guess the 35$ is the price after govt. subsidy. The BOM cost alone will be prob more than that for any usable tablet.
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dylan.mcgrath
10/5/2011 2:45 PM EDT
I believe you are correct eewiz. The company, Datawind, says it can make a profit at the retail price of around $60, which is frankly surprising in itself. The $35 price for students is heavily subsidized by the government.
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Robotics Developer
10/5/2011 2:48 PM EDT
I wonder what the performance will be? There is no mention of the processor? It looks like a great idea for getting tablets out to the masses but I wonder if it will be robust enough and have long battery life before replacement is needed. Still, compared to some of the cell phones available now it seems doable for the $60 price point.
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dylan.mcgrath
10/5/2011 3:37 PM EDT
Only mention of the processor is from the Datawind CEO, who says it's from a U.S. company. He also says the screen is the most expensive component but is still under $10, so obviously the processor is less expensive than that.
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randominc
10/5/2011 3:39 PM EDT
The processor runs at 366 MHz
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dylan.mcgrath
10/5/2011 3:42 PM EDT
There is a wikipedia page with some information. In addition to saying the processor runs at 366-MHz and features on-chip graphics, this page does make it seem as though the $10 laptop project eventually morphed into this one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aakash_tablet
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nicolas.mokhoff
10/5/2011 4:16 PM EDT
There should be questions raised about the display reliability and workability for that price, especially if this is aimed at youngsters in school.
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davvy
10/5/2011 4:37 PM EDT
There was article several weeks ago that claimed Aakash tablet is based on MIPS 74K
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selinz
10/5/2011 5:14 PM EDT
If the objective is to get "the masses" on the internet for relatively little up front cost, a tablet seems like a pretty good choice.
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mike655mm
10/5/2011 5:39 PM EDT
India keeps showing how easy it is to "deliver" fantastic products on paper. It's a classic example of "talk is cheap". It seems that paper products are cheap as well.
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Karthik Kosuri
10/7/2011 2:46 AM EDT
By reading this article, I think this "fantastic product" is delivered/released with photographs also shown. So, I doubt if it is still on paper.
To summarize, I agree with you "Talk is cheap" AND "Designed and Delivered product is also Cheap".
Lets talk how good the specs are how good the performance is...
BTW, it may be $60 BOM tablet and $35 subsidised, so lets not expect a dual core performance product
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KB3001
10/5/2011 8:44 PM EDT
I am also skeptical both at the profitability of the venture (even at the $60 retail price) and the reliability and usability of the tablet.
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Frank Eory
10/5/2011 8:48 PM EDT
Curious quote, "This is a made-in-India product," and yet it is being manufactured in the UK...which by the way, is not exactly the low-cost country that comes to mind when you ask "where can I build a tablet for only 35 bucks?"
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Bert22306
10/5/2011 9:09 PM EDT
Frank, I think they said that the company is based in the UK, but that the assembly was done in India. The chip is from the US, and the display is from Korea.
My question is, will it have a receptacle for a remote keyboard? As much as people like to gush about tablets, they are only really useful for consumers of information, not creators. So if this tablet is to be used as a cheap laptop, then it won't be very useful if most of the screen is taken up for the virtual keyboard. At least, not for the producing part of the equation, like students writing papers or solving problems.
We've seens a few of these low-cost PC efforts mentioned in the press, but never any followup. Have they been successful? Or is it just flash in the pan hype?
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maryl
10/7/2011 2:21 PM EDT
“they are only really useful for consumers of information, not creators”
While I would agree with that statement, my nieces, nephews and many of their friends use iPads to write college papers. It seems that the younger generation is willing to live with the inconvenience of the input method to gain the convenience of mobility.
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Bert22306
10/7/2011 4:16 PM EDT
Interesting. Although my nephew, a grad school student, freely admits he cannot. Much as he loves his iPad.
As for me, I can never get enough display real-estate when writing or doing work-related research, so the hype about tablets seems like oversimplistic exaggeration. I always feel like stopping the hypester, sitting him down, and saying, okay, now explain how you would use the tablet in these cases. And never mind that trendy new term, "post-PC era."
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iniewski
10/7/2011 4:22 PM EDT
I am not convinced either that iPad is a way to go to write a report or assignments...my observation is that even people writing about post-PC era are doing their writing on their laptops;-)...Kris
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DrQuine
10/5/2011 9:08 PM EDT
The wonder of this device, regardless of how the price gets so low, is that it will enable many people to get a foot into the wired world for the first time. That first step is the most important, everything else is just incremental improvement.
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iniewski
10/5/2011 11:19 PM EDT
I guess in general it is a great idea if they can pull it off...but why the tablet? Everyone in the 3rd world is trying to get a cell phone, can really afford two devices? Would it be better to produce $35 cell phone? Kris
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linpaws
10/6/2011 2:14 AM EDT
This is a commendable govt initiative to promote education. The tablet is perhaps a download and display device to push educational content and make it available to a vast majority who cannot access publications. The ubiquity of GSM infrastructure will make it easier for the content availability. You may not need a super-fast processor and/or an elaborate input system because it's not supposed to be interactive but facilitative(?). Definitely better (and cheaper) than the TV channels/content boasting of imparting quality education.
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AnujGupta
10/7/2011 6:18 AM EDT
i doubt how a wi-fi only tablet be used to push content to the masses (students in the rural areas). Schools in india (specially govt. run) have limited or not connectivity.. so the question is what the govt planning to do with these tablets ??
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tvmarun
10/6/2011 2:25 AM EDT
It uses Conexant's 366 Mhz Processor with Graphics accelerator and HD Video processor.
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agk
10/6/2011 2:37 AM EDT
One needs to wait and see what are the features?How good to use? and the most inpotant aspect is its reliability and future service.
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
10/6/2011 5:26 AM EDT
Remember Joe Isuzu? Since we're only promising, I promise a tablet computer for only $34.49! Delivered to your door by BatGirl.
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elctrnx_lyf
10/6/2011 12:01 PM EDT
the battery back up sounds really small.
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goafrit
10/6/2011 1:20 PM EDT
Hope they can make me the sole importer to Botswana. We need it also in Africa. $35 with what type of display - maybe the one Walmart sells.
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jeremybirch
10/7/2011 6:08 AM EDT
They may find that the problem may be the touchscreen. Resistive touch screens tend to be a lot less reliable than capacitive ones (such as on the iPhone etc) and do wear out. They also can suffer from drift over time and are can be vulnerable to humidity and dirt. It is also very difficult to make them multi-touch, so you are going to do a lot of one fingered typing, no pinching or other multi-touch gestures etc. Having a large number of school children using these in rural and humid environments may be a maintenance nightmare!
Projective capacitive screens allow multi-touch, and have far fewer environmental vulnerabilities and wear-out mechanisms, but they do cost a lot more.
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chanj
10/7/2011 12:38 PM EDT
With the price so low, something is going to give even with subsidiary. Will the performance be measured up to some mid-end tablets made in Taiwan?
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iniewski
10/7/2011 1:14 PM EDT
Performance will be low, so will reliability as others pointed out...but that is not the main problem...wireless connectivity will be, will these poor kids in India supposed to go to local Starbucks shops to chill over latte while surfing the net? Kris
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Code Monkey
10/7/2011 6:12 PM EDT
When I was in middle and high school, the selection of electronics and computer books in the library was pitiful. Now, kids in India will have a planet-sized library in their pocket.
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shomikg
10/10/2011 6:48 AM EDT
It is still unclear if one is able to buy Akash tablet from any shop or mobile store. It is quite likely that initially it will be contributed via colleges and universities to the students by putting an application to the management. One may book Akash tablet PC in India from a lot of websites. It will soon be available on eBay also. http://www.aakashtablet.com/
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hm
10/10/2011 8:24 AM EDT
It is good start and in proper direction. Soon they will have product at very low price which will be used by many people in developing country.
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Sanjib.Acharya
10/10/2011 11:52 AM EDT
I can't expect much from a $35 tablet. Just can't wait to have a look and feel. But from the information provided so far, the first thing I did not like is that the screen is resistive. Hope to see Akash II with a capacitive touch screen. The processor is a low speed one. But with a $35 price tag it shall reach to many in India.
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iniewski
10/10/2011 12:17 PM EDT
Sounds this is a real thing and obviously for $35 you can't expect much technology...but it will be much more powerful then 286 based PC I used with excitement long time ago...if this works out in India you would be able to sell millions of these (maybe billions?) in Africa etc where price point seems right...If anyone in India sees this model in real life pls let us know, Kris
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Sheetal.Pandey
10/11/2011 7:26 AM EDT
$35 will be difficult i guess from business perspective..but lets wait and watch...definetely it woul dbe only for students...
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