India introduced a cheap tablet
computer Wednesday, saying it
would deliver modern technology to the countryside
to help lift villagers out of
poverty.The computer, called Aakash,or “sky” in Hindi, is the latest in a series of “world’s cheapest” innovations in India that include a 100,000 rupee
($ 2,040 ) compact Nano car, a
750 rupee ($ 15) water purifier and $2 ,000 open- heart surgery.
Developer Datawind is selling the tablets to the government for about $45 each, and subsidies
will reduce that to $35 for students and teachers. In comparison, the cheapest Apple
iPad tablet costs $499 , while the recently announced Kindle Fire will sell for $199 .
Datawind says it can make about 100,000 units a month at the moment, not nearly enough to
meet India’s hope of getting its 220 million
children online.
Human Resources Development Minister Kapil
Sibal called the announcement a message to all
children of the world.
“This is not just for us. This is for all of you who are disempowered,” he said. “This is for all those who live on the fringes of society.”
Despite a burgeoning tech industry and decades
of robust economic growth, there are still hundreds of thousands of Indians with no
electricity, let alone access to computers and information that could help farmers improve
yields, business startups reach clients, or students qualify for university.
The launch – attended by hundreds of students,
some selected to help train others across the
country in the tablet’s use – followed five years
of efforts to design a $10 computer that could
bridge the country’s vast digital divide.
“People laughed, people called us lunatics,”
ministry official N.K . Sinha said. “They said we
are taking the nation for a ride.”
Although the $10 goal wasn’t achieved, the
Aakash has a color screen and provides word
processing, Web browsing and video
conferencing. The Android 2.2 -based device has
two USB ports and 256 megabytes of RAM.
Despite hopes for a solar-powered version –
important for India’s energy- starved hinterlands
– no such option is currently available.
Both Sibal and Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli
called for competition to improve the product
and drive prices down further.
“The intent is to start a price war. Let it start,”
Tuli said, inviting others to do the job better and
break technological ground – while still making a
commercially viable product.
As for the $10 goal, “let’s dream and go in that
direction. Let’s start with that target and see
what happens,” he said.
The students Wednesday were well-briefed on
the goal of providing tablets for the poor,
although most in attendance already had access
to computers at home or in their schools.
“A person learns quite fast when they have a
computer at home,” said Shashank Kumar, 21, a
computer engineering student from Jodhpur,
Bihar, who was one of five people selected in his
northern state to travel to villages and
demonstrate the device. “In just a few years
people can even become hackers.”
India, after raising literacy to about 78 percent
from 12 percent when British rule ended, is now
focusing on higher education with a 2020 goal
of 30 percent enrollment. Today, only 7 percent
of Indians graduate from high school.
“To every child in India I carry this message. Aim
for the sky and beyond. There is nothing holding
you back,” Sibal said before distributing about
650 of the tablets to the students.
There were so many operating systems to choose from—iOS,android,Windows,meebo,webOS,Blackberry OS (goes on) and now Ubuntu?
Dirtech 