Energy from the Earth - new media

InnovationIndia Launches World's Cheapest Tablet withCanadian Firm's HelpAakash, the world's cheapest tabletcomputer was introduced by the IndianHuman Resource Development MinisterKapil Sibal recently. The brains behind itare two Indian-born Canadian brothersRaja and Suneet Singh Tuli fromDataWind, a Montreal firm founded bythem.DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli expectsto sell one million tablets per month oncethe Android-powered device goes on saleto the general public later this year. Tuliexplained that the government would liketo buy up to 10 million units from four orfive suppliers.The first run of 100,000 Aakash tablets(meaning “sky” in Hindi and Gujarati) has beenpurchased by the Indian government for $48 each.They will be resold to university students for $25.Aakash runs the Android 2.2 operating system, featuresa 7-inch display with 800-by-480 pixel resolution, twoUSB ports and a claimed battery life of 3 hours. It alsocomes with 256 megabytes of RAM, 2 gigabytes offlash storage and a 366 MHz processor made byConnexant. This is enough to perform standard tasks,such as streaming HD video, reading Ebooks andrunning office-suite applications. Web access is viaDataWind's proprietary UbiSurfer browser. TheUbiSlate will come with a modem to allow it to be usedas a phone, and should sell for about $65, accordingto Tuli. The commercial version of the tablet is calledUbiSlate. Tuli would like to see it on the streets byDecember, “But it all depends if we can make enoughof them,” he said.Units destined for the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates will come with unlimited Internet access. Tuli sayshis target price is $189 (U.S.), including a two-yeardata bundle.Tuli explains that DataWind designed and sourced itsown components wherever possible, lowering costs.India's National Mission on Education throughInformation & Communication Technology has spentfive years pushing for an inexpensive mobile device formass use.“This is not a one-time opportunity,” Tuli says. “Thereare 2½ to 3 million students entering university everyyear, as well as 80 million students in Grades 9 to 12,and the government is very serious about makingmobile products available to this age group.” 24Indo-Canadian Business October - December 2011