Aakash—World’s cheapest tablet PC

Aakash, the world’s lowest priced (Rs 2,250 per unit) touch-screen computing and internet access device, which will allow people with humble means a chance to access the same set of web information which the rich access through more sophisticated devices, was launched on October 5, 2011. To start with, the device will be made available to students at 50% subsidy (Rs 1,125).

For the makers of Aakash, it has been a long and tough journey. Suneet Singh Tuli, Chief Executive Officer of Datawind, the Canada-based provider of wireless web access services, and his brother Raja Singh, who hail from Punjab but immigrated to Canada years ago, are now designing, developing and manufacturing Aakash in collaboration with IIT-Rajasthan.

For the tablet team, the next big job is to deliver the first government order of one lakh pieces. The target eventually is 10 million pieces for which the government wants a price of Rs 1,750.

Aakash has three-hour battery life and functions like web browsing, video conferencing, social networking, instant messaging and gaming. It is Wi-Fi enabled. With inbuilt GPRS and modem, 2 USB ports and internet access anywhere in the vicinity of a mobile tower (2G platform), Aakash will allow users to access thousands of hours of lectures by IIT professors and e-content on the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) platform, which offers web and video based courses in engineering, science and humanities.