World’s cheapest tablet computer Introduced in India

World’s cheapest tablet computer Introduced in India

New Delhi — A high-technology but cheap tablet computer has been introduced Wednesday in India with the aim of delivering modern technology to a number of Indian villages suffering from poverty in the countryside of India.  The tablet computer which has been named Aakash or sky in Hindi will be part of the planned series of world’s cheapest innovations to be deployed in India. The planned world’s cheapest innovations include a $2,040 (100,000 rupee) compact Nano car, $2,000 open heart surgery and a $15 (750 rupee) water purifier.

Datawind, developer of the tablet computer, will sell the tablets to the Indian government for a very cheap price of only $45 each while teachers and students can avail the tablets at only $35 each with the aid of subsidies. To compare, Apple’s cheapest tablet in its iPad product line costs $499 while Kindle Fire, the newest budget-friendly tablet to be released soon, will cost $199 each.

Developer Datawind said they can make 100,000 tablet computers per month with their current production capacity but not enough to meet the goal of the Indian government which is to bring 220 million Indian children online. Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resources Development, said this undertaking is not only for Indian children but to all underprivileged and disempowered children all over the world. This is for all children living on the fringes of the society.

Posted by James Fried on Saturday October 08 2011, 11:53 AM EST. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0