The Unbelievable Price of the Aakash Tablet

When news of the Aakash Tablet first made headlines, it appeared to be no less than a myth. The device itself was not a question of debate; it was the cost of the computing device that raised many an eyebrow, within the country as well as overseas. The device was touted to be priced at around $35 and that appeared to be a fairy tale.

Aakash Tablet Price for Students – Expected to be Rs.1500-1750 (After Rs.750 subsidy by the government, only for students)

Aakash Tablet Price in Retail Market – Rs. 3000 (inclusive of all taxes)

Note: Aakash Tablet in the retail market is called as Datawind Ubislate and it will have added features when compared to the student’s version.

Cost Breakup

The Aakash Tablet is priced at an unbelievably affordable price, which is just Rs 2,276 when converted in to Indian money. The price is inclusive of all the taxes that are levied on such products by the Government of India. Though the Aakash Tablet exceeds the originally quoted price of $35, it is still priced low and within the means of the masses.

The device is the result of the arduous efforts by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development which decided on developing a computing device which could be used by students across the country. Their initiative paid dividends and the result is the world’s cheapest Tablet.

The breakdown price of the device is as follows –

• Originally quoted price – $ 35
• Cost of manufacturing the device – $ 37.98
• Cost of warranty, transportation and miscellaneous costs $ 12

The total adds up to $ 49.98, which is the final cost of the computing device. The Government of India will provide subsidy to institutions which will enable them to distribute the computing device to the students at half the cost.

The computing device was designed and manufactured by DataWind, a British firm in alliance with IIT with the support of (NME-ICT) National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology that comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development.

DataWind is supplying the HRD ministry 100,000 tablets for only Rs 2,250 per component, and the price is inclusive of freight charges and taxes. Further, after the successful launching of the computing device in India, the (OLPC) One Laptop per Child chairman Mr. Nicholas Negroponte has extended an offer of giving India the access to all the OLPC technology free of cost for all future innovations and products

The computing device is compact and it is 25.5 cm long and 12.5 cm wide. The device has been examined by leading analyst and found to be working as good as any other computing device.

The specifications of Aakash Tablet are as under

• Screen – 7” resistive
• Operating System – Android 2.2
• Processor  - 366 MHz in addition to Graphics Accelerator and HD Video Co-processor
• Storage – 2GB Flash Memory with 2GB Micro SD card which is expandable up to 32GB
• Memory -256 MB RAM
• Network – Wi-Fi Enabled
• Connectivity – 2 USB ports
• Battery – 2100mAh
• Web Browser – DataWind Accelerated Browser
• Modem – Inbuilt cellular and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

To sum it up the configuration of Aakash is perfect for students. At the price at which it is being made available to students it will be possible for every student in India to own a computing device and become computer literate.