Cheapest tablet: How sky can be the limit for Aakash, plan for commercial success

Source: S SADAGOPAN, The Economic Times

First, a quick look at the specifications of the $35 tablet. Aakash is a 7th Android (Ver. 2.2) tablet with 256 MB RAM and 2 GB of storage, expandable through micro SD card. Powered by a 366-MHz processor, Aakash has Wi-Fi connectivity and a SIM card slot; its 2 USB ports provide a wide array of connectivity options. Graphics accelerator and HD video processor are there too. The lightweight unit weighing just 350 grams, comes with a three-hour lithium battery. The multi-touch screen is resistive (not capacitive). Most importantly, Aakash is priced at Rs2,276 (Rs1,500 for students).

The specifications are impressive. But one has to realise that touch interface with resistive screens has had many failures. The slowness of resistive touch puts off users, particularly when touch is the primary interface. I would have liked a capacitive touch screen and a longer battery, though it would push the costs high. Earlier devices from DataWind (a technology partner in the project) that I had used were good, but not good enough for sustained use.

Aakash is a bold attempt to bridge the digital divide in the country and provide an affordable platform, particularly for young high school students who can use it as their tool to listen to lectures, experiment, read books, communicate with their friends and play. In essence, address all the 4Ls of learning . lectures, labs, library and life.

What Will it Take to Succeed?

Mobile phones have been incredibly successful in India. Until July 2011 India has been adding more than 10 million new subscribers every month for several months (it slowed down a bit in the last three months to about 5.7 million subscribers a month, still a large number).

The total mobile phone subscriber base is nearly 900 million (with 600 million active subscribers). In addition, Indian mobile subscribers enjoy the lowest voice and SMS tariff in the world. The success one associates with the mobile phones is not to be found in other related products . personal computers, for example, the desktop, laptop or the newly introduced tablet category. India even today has a low PC penetration or Internet connectivity (around 10% only).

Aakash - that addresses the emerging tablet category . should be assessed against this backdrop, as well as similar experiences globally.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is perhaps the most ambitious project to take the PC and internet connectivity to high school children. Pioneered by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC had an ambitious goal of making a $100 laptop that can work in the rough environment of rural schools, be child friendly and work with minimal power requirements. It did achieve significant goals . laptop prices dropped from $1,000 to $200 (though not $100), breakthrough display technology, a team of high-energy technology volunteers, and amazing content generated largely by voluntary groups of teachers. OLPC is not a fantastic commercial success, but it changed the way PC companies look at pricing. It also brought down the prices of laptop computers, at least the entry level ones, considerably.

India had several success stories earlier, the best one being the electronic voting machine (EVM) story. Designed, manufactured and serviced by Bharat Electronics (and later ECIL also), it addressed the unique Indian needs. Simputer is another example of India-designed and India-made product that had a fantastic appeal (The New York Times cited it as an Innovation of the year in 2001) though not a commercial success. Commercial success means getting your promoting and positioning right, in addition to pricing.

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