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India's $35 7-Inch Android Tablet To Hit In January

Posted by samzenpus on from the little-machine-little-price dept.

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."

15 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Production cost by iONiUM · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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).

    1. Re:Production cost by elh_inny · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because, as Apple shows, people are not necessarily going for the cheapest thing.
      Also you're shooting yourself with low profit margins - look at Motorola and Nokia nowadays - they were selling decent phones a while ago and decided to go for the low hanging fruit of cheap phones. That didn't leave enough focus/resources on the smartphones.
      The result is the're both still in big trouble, with Motorola resuscitated by Google's Android as compared to cash rich Apple, who clearly have a strategy that brings in more money and focuses on innovation much more...

    2. Re:Production cost by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 3, Informative

      The base model is $3000, its only if you want the model with AC,Airbags,etc that you pay $6000

    3. Re:Production cost by robably · · Score: 4, Funny

      Give the guy a brake.

    4. Re:Production cost by nbharatvarma · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This appears to be an initiative by the government to push technology to the masses. I doubt the tablet (if it is not vaporware) will be available at this price for everyone. They will probably subsidize these devices to certain sections of the society. We have something called a Ration Card which is given based on your economic status. You can use that to get a subsidy on food, oil etc. I am assuming that subsidy on the tablet would be based on something like that.

      India probably has the highest growth in terms of mobile devices purchased. The cheapest Nokia mobile set here costs USD 25 and we have Indian mobile companies now (Lava, MicroMax, Karbonn) who are aiming to provide mobiles for USD 10 in 2011. I have seen beggars with mobile phones. That's how low the entry-barrier is, in India. These mobiles do their job well.

      India also has a very good mobile coverage. The areas which are not covered by private providers are covered by the state-owned BSNL. 3G services are going to get rolled out sometime towards the end of 2010.

      The government wishes to push technology to masses. This is a good step in that direction.

      --
      ... and I shall strike upon thee with great vegeance, furious anger and a slightly positive karma.
    5. Re:Production cost by yakatz · · Score: 4, Informative

      Wasn't a problem with the brakes. Was a problem with the floor mats.

      Wasn't a problem with either. Was a problem with the driver

      As anyone in computer support knows, the most common error code is "ID-10T".
      If you prefer, a "layer-8" problem.
      Could be known in this case as "PICNIC" (here meaning Problem In Chair, Not In Car).
      The automotive technician version: "loose nut between the steering wheel and the seat"
      I could almost go on about this all day.

    6. Re:Production cost by pipatron · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course they use the cheapest technology, when they want to produce the cheapest product. The point they want to make is that the consumer doesn't necessarily want to pay the extra money to get the extra expensive parts when they are not necessary for the functionality. You don't need the glossy shiny polished glass surface to check the bus timetable on your smartphone, for example.

      --
      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    7. Re:Production cost by freedom_india · · Score: 3, Informative

      It actually passed the EU standards http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/video-nano-passes-european-crash-test/ which are slightly more stringent than US standards. Oh BTW, the Yugo did pass those pesky US standards, LOL

      --
      "Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
  2. Re:2GB Ram? by lxt · · Score: 5, Informative

    The submission is wrong. It's flash memory, not RAM. The TFA even says so.

  3. Re:2GB Ram? by bfree · · Score: 4, Informative

    Any Android tablet with 2GB of ram would be very interesting, but of course this this has 2GB of storage not ram.

    --

    Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  4. Re:2GB Ram? by mprinkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    1 Gb is 1 gigaBIT. 2 GB is 2 gigaBYTES. So, to make 2 GBs, you need 16 of those $2 chips, not two. So, ~$32 for 2 GB of RAM, just for the chips. 2 GB DIMMs/SoDIMMs are in $35-$40 range on the site you posted.

  5. The Truth about $35 Android Tablet from Indian Gov by jigsawhacker · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://androidos.in/2010/09/the-truth-about-35-android-tablet-from-indian-government/

  6. Re:2GB Ram? by Goaway · · Score: 3, Informative

    Flash most definitely is not "RAM". It can not be arbitrarily written.

  7. Re:2GB Ram? by james_a_craig · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, no it's not. Flash can't be written to randomly; it needs a block erase cycle first (and generally a block is fairly large; we're not talking one or two bytes here). Technically you can zero bits without an erase, but not set them to 1 (erasing sets everything to 1).

    This is why there's a distinction between EEPROM, FLASH, and RAM.

  8. Re:Sometimes Apple is cheaper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are comparing an mp3 player to a phone.