1.4 Million People Have 'Preordered' India's Aakash Tablet

[Guest]

However, no money has actually changed hands just yet...

1.4 Million People Have 'Preordered' India's Aakash Tablet : Read more

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

It's really not that much when you consider the population of India...

 

[kcorp2003]

This should be on a TED talk show

 

[MaxTesla]

I would buy one, just to check it out, and 50-60 dollars aint a bad price.

 

[yannigr]

It looks like those cheap Chinese 7'' tablets with WM8650 processor from VIA and at almost the same price. Nothing new here. What I would like to do is congratulate the Indian government for making this tablet and making it in India.

Why I do that? Let's take my country for example, Greece. 4 or 5 years ago (when we had money - yeah, right...) the government decided to give free laptops to certain students. They did that by giving a check of 400 euros to every family. The result was ALL netbooks/laptops in the country gone from let's say 250 euros to a minimum of 400 euros + a gift card over night. The retailers fill their pockets with government money, and NO Greek company had the opportunity to acquire expertise and make a name taking advantage of that program. No new jobs, no anything. Just retailers with their pockets full back then and a padlock at the door today.

 

[GreaseMonkey_62]

If they put a faster processor, it might be worth it. It sounds too slow even at the low budget price to be worth it.

 

[Guest]

Aakash has been renamed Ubislate 7. Ubislate 7+ is coming in Feb with a 700MHz processor and a few other improvements for just $10 more.

 

[cpatel1987]

Good lord thats worse than the Droid processor!

@DK: The Ubislate 7+ is like the droid, little faster, now worth its cost.

 

[MaxTesla]

@yannigr

I must point out that the former right wing government was ideologically blocked and were unable on a personal level to even consider using the government ability to purchase in bulk.

That is why it failed in Greece, the conservatives couldn’t and wouldn’t purchase in bulk but instead, and possibly this was the goal all along, chose the wurst option which was simply send checks out so that what did happen would happen which is that the retailers raised prices and the money ended up in the sellers pocket instead of staying in the government which was possibly the plan all along.

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

damn it!!! India is not a country that's poverty stricken!! It's filled with misers who value money unlike others who are "Developed" that rock in poverty and indebtedness.. jerks..

 

[freggo]

[citation][nom]ajay_vishvanathan[/nom]damn it!!! India is not a country that's poverty stricken!! It's filled with misers who value money unlike others who are "Developed" that rock in poverty and indebtedness.. jerks..[/citation]

According to the CIA world fact book India has a per capita GDP of about $3,500 putting it in 162nd position in the world. Sorry, but I'd call that a 'poor' country.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]According to the CIA world fact book India has a per capita GDP of about $3,500 putting it in 162nd position in the world. Sorry, but I'd call that a 'poor' country.[/citation]


I heard that living cost is also very low there. GDP may not be a good measure of poverty . IMHO India will be at ~ 110th.

 

[ksampanna]

True, poverty & illiteracy is rampant. But it's also the 4th largest economy. Plus it's a fact that nearly one-fifth of the technologists in the US (engineers, scientists in IT, NASA, etc) were educated in India. Last but not the least, while the recession has largely crippled all the "developed" nations, India remains immune to it. I know this has nothing to do with the article but just wanted to clear that all is not in the drain & the article needn't be so condescending.
Coming back to the tablet, the whole initiative will be a failure if cellular connectivity is not improved or the number of public wi-fi areas is not increased.

 

[rakesh_toms]

@freggo, get you facts straight. First of all India is 129th in the per capita GDP ranking. I know no where near the US at 7th. But then comparing the total population of the 2 countries and the fact that most of the US money is in the pockets of 1% population sitting at the top of fortune 500 companies and investment banks, nothing much to brag about for an average US citizen. They spend more than they earn and make credit card companies richer is a fact.

 

[Guest]

If it's 60 dollars it must be extremely crappy device or they are building it at loss. You can't get even a decent phone with that let alone tablet.

 

[STravis]

[citation][nom]kikkare[/nom]If it's 60 dollars it must be extremely crappy device or they are building it at loss. You can't get even a decent phone with that let alone tablet.[/citation]

I would go with the former.

 

[alidan]

if these things can display a book, it would be a great e reader, i dont need fancy page turning crap, i just need something i can bring with me that is cheap as hell, and can display a jpeg/png image.

 

[kronos_cornelius]

This beats OLPC. I wonder what Negroponte thinks about it.

 

[Guest]

i can assure every over here that this device works very well atleast in terms of video , music and document editing , and browsing .
and this device is built for that purpose only . its a educational device and not an entertainment device.
and people calling it cheap , dirt , worthless , please can you ask any top manufacturer to give the same specs at the same price . they will certainly have sweat coming out of their asses .

 

[danraies]

Someone above said that these sorts of devices are not going to be successful in the "underdeveloped" world until internet connectivity is increased. I totally agree with that.

 

[Guest]

these specs are better than my 266mhz 32meg ram 3.2 gig hard drive from 97.

 

[Shin-san]

I could actually see the use of a cheap tablet like that, even though it's underpowered. It's a portable screen that can be used for thin client-like applications

 

[Dyseman]

Does this mean when they call tech support, they get someone in the U.S.? /runs away laughing

 

[acerace]

Does this mean when they call tech support, they get someone in the U.S.? /runs away laughing

Lololololol. Good comment is good.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

It would've been nice if a country in Africa had done something like this.