After various postponements, finally Datawind the maker of very ambitious project of low cost tablet of Human Resource Department of Govt. of India, has started supplying the new version of the tablet to IIT Bombay and it is likely to be launched in October. “Supplies are on to IIT Bombay. In the next few weeks, it should be launched. I do not have the exact date, but HRD Minister – Kapil Sibbal has said he wants to launch on the anniversary date which is October 5,” Datawind CEO Sunit Singh Tuli told PTI.
Tuli said Datawind has started supplying the next version of the low cost tablet, Aakash 2, to IIT Bombay since the last one month and a half. However, he refused to disclose other details. The new version of Aakash tablet would have a better battery with a three-hour battery backup, a capacitive touch screen among other new features at the same price.
According to Tuli, the company has also received 55 lakh orders from general public and out of which around 5 percent were pre-paid bookings and the company will try to finish this backlog of pre-paid bookings in approx. 10 days. Datawind is delivering around 1,500 to 2,000 tablets each day, being assembled within the country as well as outside, Tuli said. He added that company is in talks with channel partners to sell products across country, but it will first focus on the pre-booking order that it has.
Now, it sounds good that atlast Datawind has started the delivery process. But the moot question is how the tablet will perform in the hands of its users. Whether it will give trouble free and smooth performance as claimed by the company and over-optimsitic confidence of Kapil Sibal. Only the coming days will determine whether this tablet is worth buying or not when the buyers will start using it. Till then, keep your fingers crossed if you are planning to buy this budget tablet!
