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

[southernshark]

The points about internet are good. For sure, there are plenty of parts of the third world which have good Wifi, but most of the people who live in those areas are well off and would not want a 60 dollar tablet. For example, I teach at a high school in Guatemala. We have Wifi, but most of our students have Iphones and Ipads. I doubt any of them would want a 60 dollar tablet, although I suppose some of the people who clean and cook at the school might. Once you get out of the affluent neighborhoods though, its hard to imagine who would be a buyer of this.

 

[ojas]

ok people, first about India:

It's bloody complex. A majority are poor, the city dwellers and landlords in the villages are well off. However, because the country in general has been poor for a long time, it's built-in to people to put survival ahead of luxuries. Tablets for most here are an extravagance. Plus, while cellular connectivity is good, Wi-fi and the internet are not so good. Wifi is common in cities, but rare in general.

So now, will it work? It can, really. Not every student can afford an ipad. Apple sells them for more here. Most people here would prefer a laptop/desktop over a tablet, or even a smartphone, because they're more affordable, have been tried and tested, and look like more than a toy. Thus the Ubislate 7 (Aakash 2) has a lot of scope, it's cheap and as good as an ipod touch (except the screen), has Wi-fi and is GPRS enabled, one can use a 3G dongle to extend connectivity as well.

And there's a difference b/w pre-ordering and booking, Ross! I know you make an amused note about this, but here it's quite common to "book" a car, for example. they've just done the same thing.

And Aakash means 'sky', btw.

Another great thing that i foresee happening is that a lot of budding Android developers will get an inexpensive opportunity to experiment with their ideas.

 

[truegenius]

for students it priced only 30$-35$
isn't that a great deal

 

[christop]

The specs suck!!!!

 

[khicharkumar]

India is not a poor country it can be called as country with corroupt political system indeed,,,,,,,
As per recent updates and news "If u put the world aise and India on other,than India has more capital stake in Swiss Bank (Black Money aka. Money Stolen from citinzens of India now called as poor),,,,

 

[mb2bm55]

[citation][nom]rakesh_toms[/nom]@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.[/citation]

Actually get your facts right. India is 138th in nominal GDP per Capita. You are referring to the PPP adjustment which indicates that the price of variable regional dependent services is 3 times cheaper than in the US. Even still the average Indian can afford roughly 10 times less regional purchasing power than the average American. More than half the country lives on less than $2 a day (after ppp adjustment). Learn some economics b4 you start misquoting wikipedia dude. Also, wealth in the United States is fairly well distributed when compared to a country like India (where there is almost no middle class). Just b/c we aren't some tiny homogenous country like Sweden or Norway, or have a near-perfect globalized economy like Germany to pay for universal health care doesn't mean things aren't set up pretty darn well here when in comparison to the rest of the world.

 

[shriganesh]

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