India’s $35 Tablet

A Taiwanese manufacturer has shown interest in producing the tablet.

The other day, Kapil Sibal, the country’s Minister for Human Resource Development, gleefully displayed a device that looked like a cross between an iPhone knockoff and a Garmin GPS device. Linuxjournal.com called it the ‘everything-killer’. The device, called Sakshat, was developed by students from IIT and the Indian Institute of Science, and is reportedly capable of wireless communication, video conferencing, ‘remote device management’ and also supports flash. It also has a colour screen, 2GB storage, operates a version of Linux and, in case there’s no power outlet, works on solar power. All this for $35. And Sibal believes the price can be reduced to $10.

The country isn’t new to declarations of sub-$100 personal computing devices. In February 2009, the Education Ministry unveiled a $20 laptop, also called Sakshat. It was born of a collaboration between the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science and IIT. The latest announcement made the news worldwide. Commentators noted that its price was $65 less than the $100 laptop developed by MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte (the laptop actually costs $200, but Negroponte’s non-profit, One Laptop Per Child, says it will launch a tablet for $99). When the $20 laptop was announced, Negroponte wrote in Technology Review: ‘Wish the $20 laptop were true.’ He added that if the laptop’s specs were anywhere near what had been announced, it would be a ‘sign of great success’ and would ‘spur development of low-cost machines for students around the world’.

Sibal said the private sector wasn’t particularly interested in developing the tablet, so he looked to students and educational institutes for support. Mamta Varma, a ministry spokesperson, told Yahoo that “falling hardware costs and intelligent design make the price tag plausible”. According to the ministry, a Taiwanese manufacturer has now shown interest in producing the tablet. And indications are that Intel’s India branch wants to get involved in the project.

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