Just one day after the ground-breaking announcement of the new Kindle lineup we got news from the long awaited 35 USD tablet from India.
According to an article in the Economic Times the tablet will be launched on October 5th, one day after the anticipated launch of the iPhone 5. Mobile devices are clearly on the rise.
It is still not clear though what the final version of the 35 USD tablet will look like. We know that it will be connected to the Internet and that it is able to
perform all the functions that any other computer can perform.
The prototype that was unveiled in July 2010 was
likely a 5/7/9 inch touchscreen gadget with internet browsers, PDF reader, video conferencing facilities, open office, sci-lab, media player, remote device management capability, multimedia input-output interface option, and multiple content viewer.
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal who is in charge of the project sees two core elements in the strategy to bring the devices to students from primary schools to universities. One element is of course to bring better learning opportunities to those students. Sibal is also concerned that India has not enough well educated teachers in the country which lead him to add teacher education as one of the core missions to the 12th five year plan of the government.
There is also no evidence when or if at all this tablet will be available outside of India. As the mission is to bring the tablet in the hands of as many students as possible inside the country, I don’t think that it will be marketed for an international audience for the next months. On the other hand I am also pretty sure that the first devices will pop up on eBay the week after the launch.
We will keep you updated.
