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India unveils world’s cheapest tablet computer for $35
- deweller 15y agoConsumers will be able to buy a retail version for about $60.
- snampall 15y agoCorrect. It is $35 for only to the students after government's subsidy.
- hsmyers 15y agoRegards the Nano, why would people rather walk than be seen in the 'world's cheapest car?' Given the funds and the availability I'd grab one in a moment---a mountain bike in a snow storm makes a very convincing argument that there must be a better way! Is this a cultural thing---if so move the market to where such hangups don't exist would be my suggestion...
- yalogin 15y agoThough I see your point I have to say, you probably cannot drive a Nano in a snow storm either :)
- thewisedude 15y agoI see that the context is missing. The alternative is two wheeled vehicles (scooters and motorbikes). In India a big percentage of people use two wheelers for commuting. Nano seems to be a slight upgrade from two wheelers. However with rising gas costs, moving from a two wheeled vehicle to the cheapest car does not make much economic sense. Also with Nano being branded as the cheapest car, it does not make much social sense either.
- daytripper23 15y agoI think the cheapest car model really stigmatises it. Not a smart move. I would still like a Nano, I don't think it looks half bad.
- watmough 15y agoTata should pump some money into the perhaps now forgotten Africar project. A plywood car might suck some of the perceived stigma off the nano. Perhaps though, it's time to think about alternatives to building yet more 4 wheeled polluters, though it's morally hard to tell Indians that they should stick with their scooters.
- sankara 15y agoAnyone who remembers the initial events would remember very well that the Nano was overbooked initially. So it is not the price point that led to lowered sales. Cheap in price is in general associated with cheap in quality as well - market psychology. People buy it only when they feel it is good enough. Nano having been already branded and popularized as cheap in price got severely damaged by a few glitches and got rebranded as cheap in quality. Essentially, production delays and a few unpopular news items made people reconsider their choices and before Nano could recover the market is filled with cars in the small segment made by Honda (who thought of a Honda car in small segment), Maruti/Suzuki, Ford, Hyundai...etc. Also remember that it was Nano which spawned a new generation of small segment cars by various manufacturers who would otherwise have not considered the option at all.
- hugh3 15y agoThe competition for a $2000 Nano isn't "walking", it's a used Toyota or Hyundai. I'd rather have a used "proper" car than a new worst-possible car.
- tmcw 15y ago> The Indian government put out a tender for the tablet to be developed, and plans to sell 100,000 units of Aakash My comment a year ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1600780 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1600780 Same thing. 'unveiling' a tablet for a price is nothing until a tablet is actually sold for that price on the market. This times two in a place like India, which is plans-heavy and implementation-light. This really doesn't mean much.
- sethish 15y agoAgain? The 'Indian Government' makes an announcement like this every three to six months. There is really really weird politics surrounding this vs the OLPC project in India. Start believing in these releases when you have consumers purchasing them, and/or deployments greater than 100.
- dimmuborgir 15y agoIsn't this how most elected politicians behave around the world? First announcement: "we'll do it". Status update: "as announced it is on course and will be completed 'soon'". Launch: "as promised here it is for the public". Media just publishes each statement as major news item and people feel it's already overrated.
- eru 15y agoYes. But you forgot about the delays and cancellations often happening between these steps.
- dimmuborgir 15y agoOf course. I was just more critical of the relation between media and people's perceptions than government's efficiency in my last comment.
- thewisedude 15y agoI really want to know what the plan is? How will poor people who cant afford a decent computer have access to WiFi? Its not like India has free Wifi spots in many of these locations. Is there a plan to provide Wifi in the schools where these kids go? I wish this article had more information regarding the whole plan
- tariq 15y agoyet another world's cheapest [insert gadget] announcement. time to step it up, waiting for the day i hear world's best...
- teja1990 15y agoIt will really help if they provide affordable or better free WiFi countrywide
- RobertKohr 15y agoThe lack of keyboard means that it is a terrible tool for students. Without a keyboard you cannot create. (Ok you can draw imprecise pictures and type really slowly) Without creating/doing you are not learning. You are just absorbing data. Tablet/touch screen users never add new content to the world, they are just an audience.
- aw3c2 15y agoI have written a lot of text (and enjoyed doing so) on my tiny smartphone touchscreen so you are wrong.
- JWGM 15y agoI can agree. On screen keyboards will probably become an equal standard at some point. Besides it will be a lot better than no device at all.
- andrewflnr 15y agoI think you overstate the situation greatly. I have in fact written school assignments on my iPad. I have also written a pretty large body of personal notes on ideas on it. Granted, a seven-inch screen will make it harder. But for creation of content there's always actual paper and pencil. They can keep doing whatever they're already doing in that regard. And if they can't now, there's at least the theoretical ability to attach a keyboard. The way I see it, the first goal is to be a lighter, more flexible textbook. This is exactly content consumption. It will likely do a good job of this. If it does anything else as well, that's a bonus.
- sandGorgon 15y agoAs posted in my other thread - the subsidized cost to customer is $50 (cost of manufacture is $35). The blurb: http://tech2.in.com/news/tablets/indias-very-own-35-tablet-to-launch-tomorrow/245822 http://tech2.in.com/news/tablets/indias-very-own-35-tablet-t... Will be available for purchase in November. The specs are: Android 2.2 Wifi, 2 USB Ports 7'' resistive display, 350g 366 mhz processor 256 mb RAM 2GB flash microsd support 2100 mah battery can play 1080p video
- misterbwong 15y agocan play 1080p video This is a big surprise to me given the low specs. Can it do this well?
- srdev 15y agoI doubt it. I've used one of the $80 Chinese tablets with ostensibly better specs and the thing was barely usable. It really depends on the details though. 366 MHz doesn't tell us what type of processor, nor whether it has hardware decoder chips in there too.
- adestefan 15y agoIt probably has a hardware decoded like the Raspberry Pi.
- sandGorgon 15y agoThe video review - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/video.aspx?id=212812?hp http://gadgets.ndtv.com/video.aspx?id=212812?hp - does mention a dedicated HD video chip inside. So probably, yes.
- padmanabhan01 15y agoIt is not a Government's job to make tablets. If they can only fix their corruption, bureaucracy and the totally broken governmental system, thousands of entrepreneurs can emerge and create millions of gadgets...
- recoiledsnake 15y agoHere we go again with false dichotomies. Having such cheap tablets will disseminate more information which will help people in multiple ways. Just 5 in 100 having access to the internet is appalling and needs to be fixed, government or not.
- brador 15y agoAs a learning device, it's amazingly well priced. See it as a replacement for 1,000 textbooks and it suddenly makes beautiful sense and all for the cost of a single textbook. If India now creates a national or city wide free wifi network, their economy would skyrocket in the next two decades.
- senthil_rajasek 15y agoI would want my government to provide me with access to the best possible education, irrespective of my socio-economic status. May be those who come out of such an education system will know better than working within a corrupt, bureaucratic and broken system.
- drzaiusapelord 15y agoIn a country where the GDP per capita is around $1300? You can play up the "market will solve all ills" all you like, but if everyone is too busy scrambling to get enough calories to get by then they probably don't have enough to buy the latest iPad. Subsidized government programs exist because this is where the market fails and governments have a larger and more important mission than just maximizing profits and putting on fancy keynotes for drooling fans.
- padmanabhan01 15y ago//In a country where the GDP per capita is around $1300? You can play up the "market will solve all ills" all you like..........governments have a larger and more important mission than .... GDP per capita is around $1300 precisely because the governmnet always felt it had a LARGER and MORE important mission than (simply doing their job with no corruption). And these larger and more important missions almost always end up channeling tax payer's money into politicians via some crazy project like this
- droithomme 15y agoThe article switches tense from "on sale" to "will have", which is a similar uncertain time detail to other articles about vaporous sub-$50 computers that have been published in the past. Is this device shipping at the claimed price right now or not?
- vimalg2 15y agoNow every Indian adolescent boy can watch 1080p porn in private. Seriously, I hope this gets put to good use by schools for textbooks too. Boys will be boys.
- Achshar 15y agoBut the question is, is it google approved? i.e. will there be android market, gmail, updates, etc.. (highly doubt on updates though)
- trollLikeABoss 15y agoBut... will it blend?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- ankimal 15y agoBut what do you do with a $35 tablet with WiFi when there is no electricity, let alone internet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_electrification#India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_electrification#India
- ww520 15y agoThey run on battery, no? My bad. Downvote me to oblivion.
- qohen 15y agoIn a video about this tablet, the researcher behind it (or so I believe) said the goal is to have power-consumption be low enough to ultimately allow it to be solar-charged.
- ippisl 15y agoThe first step is to offer them to university students , they probably have WIFI and electricity. And yes, rural electrification is a huge challenge, but it's much easier to deploy a solar panel per school , to power some tens/hundreds of low power tablets.
- nextparadigms 15y agoHow long until Microsoft comes to screw it up for them and make the price $75?
- meow 15y agoAssuming you are implying they will sue over patents, they can't - because software patents are not legal in India.
- ashwinm 15y agoHow worlds cheapest 35$ android tablet aakash is made possible [video] - http://bit.ly/pN4hi6 http://bit.ly/pN4hi6
- drieddust 15y agoYeah in 10 years time when inflation will make $35 look like pennies and moore's law will make this device feasible to sell at $35.
- joshu 15y agoAnyone ever laid hands on one of these ultra-cheap tablets?