Slashdot Mirror
India's $35 7-Inch Android Tablet To Hit In January
indogiree writes "Engadget reports that India has just awarded the manufacturing contract to HCL Technologies. The first shipment will supposedly only contain the 7-inch model and is set to arrive on January 10. It's unclear if the $35 price has stuck or whether India's been successful in plans to drive the price down to $10 eventually with the help of large orders and government subsidies. HCL Technologies plans to initially produce 100,000 units. Among the key features of this India-based tablet include 2GB of RAM, web-conferencing, PDF reader, unzip, WiFi, camera and USB connectivity."
I'd really like to know what the true production cost of this tablet is. If it's low enough that with a few subsidies from the government they can get it down to $35 or even $10, then it leads me to believe other tablets are severely overpriced for no reason.
If they are indeed overpriced, then why doesn't 1 competitor just come in with a ridiculously low price and suck up all the "cheap" market? This applies to phones as well, which are also very expensive (though we don't often notice due to hardware upgrades from the carriers).
I can not find 2GB RAM retail for less than $35. So the summary is truly amazing, or RAM is not a global market.
I like the indian approach in this case!
It seem to me, that they are taking success-concepts from the western world and integrate them into their culture.
Its crazy, though: Some of the poorest people live there and they start pumping "newest" technology to make it affordable...
http://androidos.in/2010/09/the-truth-about-35-android-tablet-from-indian-government/
Apple sells to the latte sipping metrosexual poseur who pays for a brand.
Yet the iPod touch 4, which has access to Apple's App Store, starts at 229 USD. As far as I know, this is cheaper than any Android device sold in the United States that has access to Android Market. So I guess the brand doesn't add much to the MSRP, even if you aren't camp straight.
Congratz, you're snap bang at the core of Apple's market: people who can't tell a phone from an MP3 player.
For one thing, a Skype user can use Apple's MP3 player to make phone calls anywhere he can get a Wi-Fi signal. For another, Archos makes MP3 players that run Android and would be comparable to iPod touch except for the fact that Google won't let them onto Android Market.
I cannot wait to have the Indians to whom my job was outsourced buy up thousands of these tablets and ship them to me for $40, so I can sell them here in the US for $150. It might make up for my lost salary and benefits.
Seriously, how will India stop me from buying a dozen of these there and shipping them back here to have a cheap tablet in every room and couch?
--
make install -not war
I believe Ferrari have just had a recall of their latest model over a design fault that can set fire to plastic insulation in a wing. This makes a serious point. The investment to make a fully reliable modern car from the first production run is stupendous. We shouldn't be surprised if niche manufacturers, or new market entrants, have teething troubles.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Here is a better explanation of the price breakdown.
and
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/jaimonjoseph/326/62006/is-indias--35-laptop-really-indian.html
hi!
That was probably a £170K Ferrari 458 - they seem to be bursting into flames quite regularly, general recall of the model is currently going on ;-)
This is just a publicity stun. India is well-known for that.
Tolerable for who? It's all about expectations.
The Western press will no doubt compare it side-by-side with the iPad and go on at great length about all its shortcomings, how isn't as shiny, how the touch-screen isn't as good, how the speaker is a bit naff, etc., but that's not who it's aimed at.
No sig today...
10$? I buy 50!
Is that really necessary for such a low-cost device? I have crappy desktops here that have 1 GB and they're still plenty good, apart from running "The Dark Mod", which is the only modern game worth playing. Surely if you're not going to run a defective OS that requires constant virus/malware protection, 1 GB is still plenty.
This Debian laptop with 4 GB of ram is currently using 358 *megs*. That is with Compiz, Firefox, Pidgin, and some other stuff running.
If this actually happens and India really does subsidize and sell these Android tablets for $35 a pop to Indian citizens, I predict a lot of U.S. and western geeks will be purchasing them for $100 each on eBay.
I buy stuff from China & HK that went out the back door or fell off a truck all the time. It's just a question of the search. I bought a TLR2s for $150, a EOTech 512 for $70, 2 SAPI plates for $90. a VHF/UHF hand held w/ no lis for $50, Timny 3lbs trigger group for $150. and a 13 ft RHI for $600 (plus about $100 in customs/shipping) All new. A $35 TS tablet is not so surprising.
6.8SPC TR of 550, l xwind at 6, drift rt at 26" drops 77". AT has 503 ft-lbs at 1403 fps. FT 0.86
I'll compare it to the iPad right now: even marked up to $50 without the subsidy and marked up to $75 to make a profit and another $25 for international shipping and duties, I can buy six of them instead of one iPad. Six. At least three or four of them, even if the numbers are a little off. Since the iPad is intentionally limited in capabilities compared to laptops of the same price, I'd say this thing can afford to be a little behind the iPad in processor speed and touch screen accuracy.
If the story is true AND deliveries happen close enough to that time, I wonder how many iPad owners will sell theirs on eBay and buy .... 13 of these? Finally, they can be free from the Apple tax and iTunes store and crapware.
I can't wait to show up at the family holiday next year with one of these and have everyone think it is a $400 device. Then I'll say, no - it costs $60.
Finally Indians will able to hold something 7" big that is their own :) !
Lemme guess, another fine attempt by the Indians to promote a poor man's computer. Like the hugely successful Simputer. I can't wait to see the sleek design of the device. If I were Apple I'd be very afraid.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
This has to do with RAM being redefined as RW (read/Write) RAM they were NOT the same 20 years ago and are still NOT the same today. Tim S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM
It will not be running iOS. It took Microsoft about 11 years to clone a bad copy of MacOS which managers were willing to inflict on their employees. Sarcastic and easily provoked critics can go on about things being "shiny" but there really a difference which people are willing to pay to enjoy. The marketing noise about iOS devices being "magical" strike me and many others are silly at best and often just plain annoying. But they are remarkably more natural than the conventional GUI. Commercial touchscreens I had used before the iPad were so annoying that I would usually prefer to see them destroyed rather than try to use them. It seems unlikely that the India pad will preserve that natural-ness with the hardware components and software that fit within its budget.
I doubt Microsoft will be doing the OS. Palm had a touch-based OS long before the iPad. (So did Apple for that matter. The Newton was a better machine for its day than the iPad is for today, IMO.) VTech has touch interfaces for kids that toddlers toddlers have no problem using, but the applications are very limited (yes, much more than the iPad) because the whole systems they produce are designed for toddlers.
My problems with the artificial limits of the iPad furthermore have nothing to do with the UI and I didn't at all call it "magical". I just don't like being limited to only their App Store and only to single-purpose applications preapproved by Apple. Some people prefer it, but I don't. You can say it's good, but you can't say it's not a limit. Being a limited device is exactly the point, per Steve Jobs.
I owned a Newton and enjoyed it to some extent but to compare it to the iPad is beyond silly. It was a fine geek gadget but not in the same league as the iPad. More iPads were sold in its first week of availability than all Newtons for its entire history. Some of those limitations you allude to are an important part of why it transcends the tech market and manages to cross over to the mass market.
What the world needs, though, isn't to separate geek markets and mass markets. A computer is a very flexible thing, and the UI is just software. There's no reason you can't have a simple, easy to learn UI that has ways to get out to a more general OS. OS X does that. The new eased restrictions on design and implementation tools for the OS is a good start.
Considering india's market, there are more buyers for these kinds of cheap gadgets in the lower middle class / typical town peoples, if the price is set around 35$ its a good buy. Imagine, these tablets hitting rural areas, this will open a *LOT* of opportunity, for both IT companies, and for the people.
Judging from their (Indian gov) demands on Blackberry and Skype, I'll not be surprised if this turns out to be backdoored- 'USB connectivity' involves GPS, widely used by tourists and tr'rists-
Anyway I'm getting one. Or more.
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
on eBay for $200. Total crap! With the touch surface being a plastic laminate and NOT multi-touch you couldn't even scroll a web page without hitting and opening a link.
The device is actually based on a design from AllGo Embedded Systems, a Bangalore based company. Check it out here
Well, even I thought thats correct. But, apart from the plastic, there is nothing concrete to prove that they are the same. You can find my blog entry on this here: http://flyingtux.blogspot.com/2010/09/35-tablet.html