Tabs flow into Indo-Market Arena

It seems like tabs are just flowing from all parts of the business around the IT sector in to the technology market i.e. the market which has never given up saying its an end, seeing the trend it still says "There is lot to come, Baby".
After Aaakash aka Ubislate, the Ultra Cheap tablet launched in October, 2011, there had been raining tablets into the Indian Market i.e. the era started by an IIT entrepreneur Rohit Pande with a launch of classpad then followed by many companies like Mercury pushing Mtab into the market with a price tag of Rs.13990, soon after big Tele Giant Bharti too entering the segment market with release of enhanced version of Beetel Magiq 2 price under 10K, then lot of SME too entering the market like LACS, a Bangalore based company coming with its tabs named on the spices in Traditional Indian Kitchen like Pepper, Tamarind, Mirchi and Paprika, the cheapest one priced at 6.5K, soon after followed by Spice Tele pushing M-270 tab into the market.
Sooner or later after the Aakash launch the controversies surrounded regarding the performance, battery and screen quality, yet though it was one of its kind Tab that has just pinned each and every section of the Tech Market with news of pre-booking 14 Lakh tablets in just 14 days of its launch.
The year ended but as the saying goes, Market never sleeps so did by the rivals in the market. In January 2011 early enough the market saw the launch of the Tabplus Rio, a tab with pretty good configuration but priced at 11.5K, then followed by many companies like Asus and many more. Considering the big newsmaker after Aaakash i.e. PentaPad released in collab with BSNL under the same price tag as was for Aakash.
As and when the Pentapad hit the market it took an edge over and above Aakash with better performance, which was a must for any tablet under the same price tag to come up and roll over. The tab came in with and without the bundled offers with BSNL. But as previously said "Market Never Sleeps" so didn’t Aakash Manufacturer with the re-launch of Aakash-2 into the market with better performance and better battery life and thanks to capacitive touch screen, which was needed for any Tab to be a success at this point in the market across all segment customers. The most important thing was the price remained unchanged keeping the improved configuration at the price tag of just 3K is just wonderful and the astonishing.
The tabs kept on coming but the first one is remembered always, so is Aakash in Indian Tablet Market. If you don’t agree, search in google india page just type A, the aaksh will be in the top-5 recommend searches.

After Aakash, Gear Up for Aakash-2

With an enormous buzz of Aakash followed by its successful release, its time for Aakash-2.

Come February 2012, a better and more efficient Aakash-2, world’s cheapest tablet computer, would be available at price of version 1, Rs 2,276 or US $ 49. Indian Institute of Technology, Rajasthan, has finalized improvements in Aakash-1 launched on October 5. “We expect to launch the new version of Aakash by January-February next year,” said HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who has been overwhelmed by international response to Aakash, showcased as device for “children of the world, at a recent United Nations conference in Paris.

The Aakash-2 based on feedback from over 500 users of Aakash-1 in IITs and other institutions will have a new microprocessor of 800 megahertz as compared to 366 megahertz processor. It would fasten the tablet computer and would enable downloading of videos from youtube.

The Random Access Memory (RAM) of the new version would be enhanced to one gigabytes (GB) from 256 megabytes in Aakash-1, which restricted multi-tasking.

A senior professor IIT Rajasthan professor, who is heading the Aakash team, said the changes will increase the “functionality of the tablet” and will be more “competitive” to existing tablets in the market.

To make Aakash-2 more attractive the IIT Rajasthan has also decided that the new version will have an in-built camera on the front for online video chatting or use of Skype and a better seven-inch touch screen.

This comes after the IIT students, who are testing Aakash-1, citied overheating within 30 minutes, frequent hanging, poor sound quality, absence of support for all formats, and inability to install free software available online as some of the problems with the device. “Aakash is much below our expectations,” said an IIT student, who has used the device for last one month.

Although the better Aakash would be ready by February 2012, its manufacturing to meet the government’s inspirational target of providing the tablet to two million students is still a challenge.

“We have to evolve an eco-system of several vendors and its testing by IITs and other institutes to provide an Aakash to each child by 2017 (end of 12th plan),” a senior HRD ministry official said.

Like in case of Aakash one, where three companies – London based Datawind, India based Quad --- came together the government believes that Aakash-2 will see a bigger collaboration of Indian and foreign information technology companies.

This collaboration would be necessary, as Sibal said that several Prime Ministers and World Bank have shown interest in purchasing Aakash for children around the world. “There is lot of global buzz about Aakash and we have to meet the global expectation,” the minister, who has been marketing the device since its launch, said.