New cheap tablet pc launched

[NickStone]

Yesterday, I read in one of the newspapers of a UK based company developing the worlds cheapest tablet pc in India. More news about it here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15180831

It doesn't say what OS it uses (I'm assuming Linux) but I would love it if it was a Apple / Microsoft beater.

[whatthefunk]

Nah, I bet its crap. The article says its designed with rural Indian students in mind, so I doubt if it will have much umph to it. Also, the thing with tablets is not only the actual tablet and OS but the apps you can get on it. In this area, its going to be really hard to beat Apple and Android devices. Microsoft is even struggling with this.

[HalationEffect]

It doesn't say what OS it uses (I'm assuming Linux)

It runs Android 2.2 (Froyo).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aakash_%28tablet%29

[sixonetonoffun]

The Google Nexus 7 looks promising at $199 8Gb and $249 16Gb though its more a threat to Nook n Kindle then Apple.

[perspectoff]

If I remember the history of the Indian inexpensive tablets, they are essentially Korean tablets with Android on them. The Indian company was seriously mismanaged and the project stalled for the past 2 years.

There was an Indian Adam tablet, as well, a parallel effort, that basically collapsed.

What is interesting is that Android 2.3 is still one of the most widely deployed OSs, for the very reason that it is deployed on so many inexpensive devices already. Even in the US you can get an Android OS on an "eBook reader" for maybe $50 - $70 (at Big Lots, for example) that does most of the things that the basic user needs (including Netflix, lol). Some are pretty nice, like the Nextbook Next7, which has a nicer screen and outperforms the far more expensive Nook and Kindle, IMO. (Android 2.2 is crippled, in contrast, and is a waste of time.)

The problem for India is that China, Taiwan, and South Korea are so geared up for manufacturing that it is very difficult for India to recreate that environment.

(There's a lot of "pie-in-the-sky" wishful thinking among Indian engineers and a lot of hype for venture capital there, so I'll believe it when I see it.)

I personally don't think the company ZaReason in California is well-financed or well-managed, either, but I am rooting for them to put Kubuntu Active on their tablets and be able to make a go of it.

I think Kubuntu Active will be far nicer than anything out there now (including Android), but it's not easy to manufacture and deploy in bulk (the profit margins are so slim these days). Besides, only now, with Precise, IMO, is Kubuntu so robust that it can compete with anything out there (if only there was a marketing arm, lol...)

There is no question that consumer "throwaway" devices (or more politely, "replaceable" or "short lifespan" devices) such as inexpensive smartphones, eBook readers, and tablets are the only way to make money, as even Microsoft has recently concluded, given the success of Apple and Google (and, as Canonical hopes, Ubuntu Mobile). Even Vizio has taken to embedding OSs in their TVs.