India has launched the world’s cheapest tablet PC ‘Aakash’. The brand new PC costs about Rs 2276. The Aakash tablet PC was launched by Minister for Human Resources Development and Communication and Information Technology, Kapil Sibal on Wednesday, 6th October 2011. The Aakash PC will be available for students at nearly 50 percent subsidized price of Rs. 1100 – 1200. The Aakash PC is expected to be available with $10 additional price in the retail stores. The PC is targeted to expand education through information technology in India. The Aakash PC will be provided to students studying in class nine onward and up to class XII as part of the 12th Five year plan. The original prototype of the PC was named as ‘Sakshat’ (Embodimet). The PC was manufactured by UK-based company DataWind. The Aakash will be assembled at DataWind’s new production centre located at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
The tablet PC, named as Aakash (Sky) will cost to the government about Rs 2276. The Government has decided to offer it to the students after subsidizing the price by up to 50 percent of the cost. The Government will provide the PC to institutes at around Rs. 1200. The PC Aakash is a 7-inch touchscreen device and user friendly. The price includes all the additional costs such as taxes and transportation. Not satisfied with this innovation, the Government is also contemplating to bringing down the cost of similar PC device to as low as $10 (around Rs 500).
The Aakash tablet PC will be made available in the educational institutions in metro cities such as Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata etc. along with gradual reach to other cities and towns. The Government will soon start distributing the PC to the students studying at central and technical institutions. The Aakash has been developed as part of the National Mission on Education programme of the Govt. of India. Following are the technical specifications and configuration of Aakash Tablet PC:
1) Name of the tablet PC: Aakash
2) Screen measurement: 7-inch touch screen
3) Operating System: Google’s Andorid 2.2 operating system
4) Processor: 366 Mhz processor
5) RAM: 256 MB RAM
6) Storage: 2GB Flash internal storage capacity (It can can support data storage of up to 32 GB through on an external disk)
7) Battery back up: 180 minutes.
8) Manufacturers: DataWind (United Kingdom)