Aakash, which has become popular as the world’s cheapest tablet, sold like hot cakes after it was up for sale. This incredible success has encouraged the Indian government to go for a new endeavor by launching upcoming Aakash-2 tablet. This device is expected to be unveiled by either January or February, 2012.
The Indian government has called PC makers from Taiwan to take part in the bidding for Aakash-2 tablet. The international bidding for the tablet, was initially planned to take place in December, but now it has been advanced to this month as per the officials.
Sandeep Yadav, who is the convener of the Aakash tablet project has confirmed that the second generation Aakash tablet PCs are soon to be launched and the Government of India, is presently negotiating with the Taiwan-based PC makers to participate in the bidding process of the tablet.
The upgraded version of Aakash, known as Aakash 2 tablets will be offering loads of advance features in comparison to Aakash1. Taiwanese companies have good repute in manufacturing bulk tablets at a cheaper price.
The Indian government is expecting keep the prices of Aakash 2 at a very low margin while its predecessor was priced at only Rs 2500. It seems this target can be obtained with the Taiwan PC manufacturers at play. Moreover, the upgraded Aakash-2 will be coming with a better battery back-up and processor.
The government is expecting some help from the Taiwan manufacturers of the Aakash tablet to get for an even lower price of just $35 USD.
As Aakash managed to achieve around 8,000 students for trial use, the government is now planning to ship around 230 million units of the Aakash-2 tablet in the years ahead. The previous versions of the Aakash Tablets were produced by the UK-based company, named DataWind with the Taiwan manufacturers supplying 10-20% of the components required, said Sandeep Yadav. Therefore whether Indian students get this cheap and affordable tablet at $35 or not is yet to be seen.
