Low-Cost Indian Tablet Project Falls To Corruption

symbolset writes "The first Aakash tablet proposed for India schools has failed. Datawind managed to deliver the $45 Android tablet as reported here previously, but suffering a breach in faith by both their contract manufacturer and the accepting agency in India had to put the project on hold. Facing a loss in revenue it's turning into a disaster for the small Canadian company as they are now proving unable to deliver both the Aakash tablet and the parallel retail product. Senior executives have begun to flee. The company has presold a great many tablets, and delivery failure reports are beginning to mount. Is this the Phantom console of this decade?"

Comments

Re:Money first

[Anonymous Coward]

You're missing the point: in the mind of Joe Sixpack, the Android name IS tied up with bottom-shelf low quality, low performance hardware, so the image ingrained in the minds of the public is "Android = cheap knockoff of iOS". That might let you sell a lot of units - people like cheap! - but Apple has locked up the profitable niche.

Given a choice, most people want iOS, and sometimes will settle for the knockoff if it's enough cheaper. People buy their cheapo Android devices, the devices struggle to run anything acceptably, and that harms the brand image of Android. Apple is doing the smart thing, making sure iOS runs well on every piece of hardware that is sold with it.

Re:Money first

[HornWumpus]

All your story proves is the relative stupidity of iPhone owners you know. Fall down drunks who only care about fashion accessories.