India to sell $35 dollar Linux Tablet, competes with Ipad

[3rdalbum]

After all these ARM-based netbooks and tablets that were meant to come out and didn't, I now question the existence of ARM CPUs. They don't exist, otherwise there would be shipping products.

[Nick_Jinn]

This even blows those $100 android tablets out of the water....it might cost more by the time it gets to us......I think I may be giving these as gifts next year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/...cheap_computer

By ERIKA KINETZ, AP Business Writer Erika Kinetz, Ap Business Writer – Fri Jul 23, 12:55 pm ET
MUMBAI, India – It looks like an iPad, only it's 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.
If the government can find a manufacturer, the Linux operating system-based computer would be the latest in a string of "world's cheapest" innovations to hit the market out of India, which is home to the 100,000 rupee ($2,127) compact Nano car, the 749 rupees ($16) water purifier and the $2,000 open-heart surgery.

Click image to see the Nano car and other ultra-cheap products

AFP

The tablet can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing. It has a solar power option too — important for India's energy-starved hinterlands — though that add-on costs extra.
[See photos from India's recent Fashion Week]
"This is our answer to MIT's $100 computer," human resource development minister Kapil Sibal told the Economic Times when he unveiled the device Thursday.
In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte — co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab — unveiled a prototype of a $100 laptop for children in the developing world. India rejected that as too expensive and embarked on a multiyear effort to develop a cheaper option of its own.
Negroponte's laptop ended up costing about $200, but in May his nonprofit association, One Laptop Per Child, said it plans to launch a basic tablet computer for $99.
Sibal turned to students and professors at India's elite technical universities to develop the $35 tablet after receiving a "lukewarm" response from private sector players. He hopes to get the cost down to $10 eventually.
Mamta Varma, a ministry spokeswoman, said falling hardware costs and intelligent design make the price tag plausible. The tablet doesn't have a hard disk, but instead uses a memory card, much like a mobile phone. The tablet design cuts hardware costs, and the use of open-source software also adds to savings, she said.
Varma said several global manufacturers, including at least one from Taiwan, have shown interest in making the low-cost device, but no manufacturing or distribution deals have been finalized. She declined to name any of the companies.
India plans to subsidize the cost of the tablet for its students, bringing the purchase price down to around $20.
"Depending on the quality of material they are using, certainly it's plausible," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research. "The question is, is it good enough for students?"
Profitability is also a question for the $35 machine.
Epps said government subsidies or dual marketing — where higher-priced sales in the developed world are used to subside low-cost sales in markets like India — could convince a manufacturer to come on board.
This and similar efforts — like the Kakai Kno and the Entourage Edge tablets — show that there is global demand for an affordable device to trim high textbook costs, she said.
If it works, Epps predicts the device could send a shiver of cost-consciousness through the industry.
"It puts pressure on all device manufacturers to keep costs down and innovate," she said.
The project is part of an ambitious education technology initiative by the Indian government, which also aims to bring broadband connectivity to India's 25,000 colleges and 504 universities and make study materials available online.
So far nearly 8,500 colleges have been connected and nearly 500 web and video-based courses have been uploaded on YouTube and other portals, the Ministry said.

[PaulReaver]

I would love this tablet to be released and reach the uk. (even if just for novelty value)

there has been no announcements on hardware. they just announced a cheap tablet we need specs...please


I think we can guess it wont be shipping with a multitouch screen and ddr3.

[Rasa1111]

very cool.

[Nick_Jinn]

Probably not, but this would be a device that you could give your child in elementary school and not feel to bad if they break it. It should work for helping them write papers and do research. The screen looks like its a nice size.

If you are not too terribly spoiled you could probably get by with one of these.....or let this be your 'beater' device for taking out and about with you when you are on the run.

[Nick_Jinn]

This is what it looks like....bigger than the android tablets currently on the market.

[PaulReaver]

Yeah it looks good, I'll be watching for news on the specs. but just like the tata nano, we probably wont see it in the uk


canada-jerseys?
Are we allowed to advertise on here?

[gnomeuser]

It would be cool if they started a program similar to OLPC's some what failed give one get one program. 99$+S&H could get you one and give two to Indian school children in need.

It looks like a very useful little device, I imagine it will grow a very nice hacker community.

[neoargon]

Ah , since it's a government thing, Iam pretty sure it won't be realized . Such claims happened earlier

[kerry_s]

sounds like vapor-ware to me. will just have to see when 2011 comes around.