Aakash 2 not to be cheapest

NEW DELHI: The updated version of the world’s cheapest tablet, Aakash 2, may not come as cheap — $50, or R2,450 —as promised by HRD minister Kapil Sibal earlier this month.

Both public and private sector suppliers of the tablet have made it clear that the water and shock-proof tablet with a four times faster processor and a longer battery life may cost about $100 (R4,900) each.

Sibal said the Aakash 2 tablet would not cost more even with higher specifications, as the ten- fold increase in the ministry’s order — from one lakh to one million — would help bring down the price. The minister launched the Aakash tablet in October.

Montreal-based Datawind won the order to supply one lakh tablets to the government at $50 each.

The Centre then subsidised the sale of the tablet to students. But since the first version failed to meet the expectations of 600 Indian Institute of Technology students across the country, the Iit-rajasthan set stricter test criteria for the tablet.

The institute wants the waterproof Aakash 2 to run at –20 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius temperature and withstand steep and sudden fall.

It has specified a 1.2 gigahertz – instead of the 366 megahertz – microprocessor and a random access memory of 700 megabytes, double the original size.

Two public sector companies, Indian Telephone Industries and Bharat Heavy Electricals were willing to manufacture a million updated tablets, but not at original price.

“The US dollar appreciation will push up the cost. Insulation costs are also very high.”

A government official said, “It will be difficult to sell even at $100 each.” Maypad, a tablet with similar specifications, costs about $100, while the others, such as Classpad, cost even higher – about $ 150 (R7,350).

The tablets sold under the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project promoted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) match the Aakash 2 specifications, but are priced at $230 ( R11,270) each.