Indian Government unveils a $35 Android tablet: Blissful Hope.

 

The world said it was vaporware, it was impossible and India was giant moonwalk steps ahead with its dream. To them Indian government tauntingly said, “In your face” with the prototype launch. However, exactly how will the Government capitalize on it? That is important considering the haunting past of cheap and sustainable gadgets proposed in India before.

 

A professor of mine used to repeat during all his lectures, “Indians are the best planners but the worst executors.” Repeatedly, no matter how much I defended India, my professor always won the debate. 

Primarily let me start by saying $35 comes to around Rs. 1750 with a Government subsidy of $15 i.e. Rs. 750 with the subsidy of 50% being under consideration for education institutions. The tablet actually costs Rs. 2,500 or $50. The tablet’s configuration is still dicey, but according to Gadget Guru from NDTV where it was screened first, it has 2GB of RAM. No word on the processor. 

Many have asked what flavour of Android the tablet running, some wishful thinkers even speculate that Ginger Bread runs on it. However, in the short duration that I could the screen it was obvious that the tablet is running 1.6. As for apps, I saw Spare Parts and Skype Beta while seeing the tablet on the news. Spare-parts is a feature wherein the developer/user can configure the hardware best suited to the software running on the tablet. 

Personally, I have been using 1.6 on my computer and I would say that 1.6 was always the preferred platform for such a tablet. Android 1.6 is nothing fancy but reliable when running services that the tablet is meant to do. Therefore, I will not expect or even want the tablet to be given out to educational institutions to run anything else. What I will wait for is the educational apps made by the Indian Government and let us just add a little twist to wonder what if private institutions ride the wave?

The HRD dept. of the Government expects to produce and dispense a million tablets by mid-2011. On a very personal level, I hope it happens. Tablets like this are a big tool not just for educational inclusion, but a hope for financial inclusion. Android is an open system and proper use of such tablets will take India leaps and bounds ahead in terms of ICT penetration. Many argue the need for a tablet when a cell phone has the same functionality. To me, the reason seems a little obvious; a tablet is more versatile, the target audience will not respond to anything that it is already comfortable with (like a cell phone). Most of those phones being the low-end handsets by Nokia. A tablet may just strike a chord with comfort level, touch-screen capability and multiple languages (if it were made available in the Devanagari script).

The price for the tablet is perfect; Mr. Sibal targets Rs. 500 or $10 as the final price with a further subsidy. The costing is fair, but what matters is the utilisation and the content on it, which will require a lot of coordination with different Government departments. Mr. Sibal, HRD Minister, on Gadget Guru Show made it amply clear that the Rs. 1750 tablet with Government subsidy is exclusively for Indian educational institutions. The retail models will differ in features. Fingers crossed with luck, and hope’s high for the tablet.