I’ve just gotten another update on the $35 Indian tablet that was unveiled last July. Do you recall how it was supposed to ship last fall, in January, and in June? Well, even after being delayed for over a year it still has not shipped.
I’d last posted on this mirage back in June, when my source had indicated that it would ship that month. Nope. I”m now hearing that the Indian Tablet is due to ship on 5 October. It’s still supposedly going to be made by Hivision, the Chinese gadget maker.
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Do you recall the $35 Indian tablet that we saw back in July? It’s the one that was supposed to ship in January, only it didn’t. Well, it’s shipping.
It may have taken an extra 6 months, and it turns out that the Indian tablet isn’t actually made in India, but the good news here is that something will be shipping. An Indian tech blog are reporting that the Indian Government will be buying the above tablet in bulk from its manufacturer, Hivision.
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The Times of India are reporting that the primary contractor for the super cheap tablet has been let go. According to sources close to the project, HCL Infosystems had been selected as a vendor for the $35 tablet and had been dropped after insisting on several new conditions. It’s also been reported that the vendor did not agree to furnish a Rs 60 crore ($13m USD) bank guarantee, which is required under the Indian gov’t. regulations.
It also turns out that the estimated parts cost for the tablet was a little optimistic. The new cost estimate is Rs. 5700 ($124 USD), and that’s jsut shipping or import duties.
But the tablet is supposedly still on schedule and is due out in the middle of this year. Yeah. I’ll believe it when I see it.
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Techpp.com are reporting that Indian $35 tablet has gotten a name, manufacturer, and ship date:
The highly anticipated $35 tablet from India, Sakshat is set to arrive in January 2011, as the government of India has handed over the manufacturing contract to HCL Technologies.
HCL Technologies Ltd is a well known Indian computer services firm and will help manufacture 100,000 low-cost computers under a government project which is aimed to boost the role of technology in education. Last month, when the IT minister, Kapil Sibal ran a hands-on demo, things were clear that the tablet is for real and will definitely see its light sooner than later.
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The Indian Minister for Human Resources Development (similar to the US Dep’t of Education) was interviewed on Gadget Guru, an Indian tech show. His interview starts at about 2:32, and if you jump to about 9:20 you’ll see a review of the tablet.
It’s not actually a $35 tablet (unless you buy it in quantities of 1,000,000). But he did confirm that it has Wifi, camera, USB Host, miniSD card slot. They were also impressed with the performance.
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There was a rather interesting story on the GoodGearGuide blog Saturday:
The nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child wants to join forces to help develop the Indian government’s planned US$35 tablet.
In a congratulatory note to the government, OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negroponte said the world needs the $35 tablet, and he offered the country full access to OLPC hardware and software technology.
I snickered a little at Negroponte, a man who never accomplished any of his pricing goals, offering the Indian program assistance with something he has failed to do. Heck, the only way he accomplished the $100 tablet was by co-opting a Marvel design.
Admittedly, we don’t know that the Indian tablet will succeed, but I think it has a better chance than OLPC.
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Details are sparse on this tablet, but we do know that the Indian Gov’t. have been working on low cost devices for several years now. You might recall that last year they announced a low cost tablet (which never was produced, so far as I can tell). At this time we don’t know the specs, manufacturer, or when it will be available.
source (more pictures)
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