India Develops $35 Tablet for Its School

The $35 Android based Tablet PC which the govt. had announced last year is finally going to launch this June. 

The Indian Government and Canadian company Datawind have just released the Akash, a 7″ Android based Tablet.

The Indian government has contracted to buy some 8 to 10 million of the devices by March 2012 and will initially be giving the devices away to students for free and when available commercially will sell for around $38.

“The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide,” Telecoms and Education Minister Kapil Sibal told The Times of India.

Based on  Android 2.2 ( Froyo ) , a 7-inch resistive touch screen ( 800-x-480) , a 366-MHz processor, 256MB of RAM, 2GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, WiFi, GPRS modem, two USB ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack  and a 2100 mAh battery that lasts around 3 hours, the specifications don’t look that impressive. The device will however go a long way in enabling many of India’s 1.2 billion people  who cannot afford more expensive units and  whom only around 8% currently have Internet Access.

There is no such news on the availability of this Device on a commercial level  as the device is meant for Students who are not able to afford costly PCs.