Government of India Unveils Sakshat $10 Tablet PC for Students

[btarunr]

The Government of India today unveiled the much talked about 10 Dollar Tablet PC for students. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal unveiled the tablet which is initially priced at 1,500 Indian Rupees (US $30), but is expected distributed for 500 Rupees ($10) once manufacturing is streamlined. The device is named Sakshat (meaning "personification" in Sanskrit), and boasts of performance-grade hardware for a device of its class. It has a 10.5-inch multi-touch colour screen, ARM processor, 2 GB of memory, cloud storage, WiFi b/g and 10/100 Ethernet for connectivity with school networks, a highly-customised OS based on the Linux kernel, supporting Adobe Flash for online videos and interactive educational content, and a digital camera.

School curriculum will be distributed to students in an interactive format, as well as drive "e-classrooms" for live-streaming classes from eminent teachers to students from across the country. The device supports OpenOffice.org and open document formats, as well as Adobe PDF, and various multimedia formats. Sakshat was developed by students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from various IIT institutes across the country. As part of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, Sakshat will be backed by a network connecting 18,000 educational institutions and 400 universities.



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[Rakesh95]

500 wow. I can see many people using one of these.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

* waits for someone to break a 'bricks' one liner *

In anycase, I remembered back then when one of my class implemented some e-learning thing.. wasnt very motivational, and cheating on the tests was easy and rampant (since it relied on honesty rather than an iron fist system)..

 

[Rakesh95]

Its good because people there aren't as fortunate hey. Do they mean 2gb of SSD or actually memory

 

[GENTLEMEN]

... 2 GB of memory, cloud storage ...

Looks like 2gb of actual ram.

 

[b82rez]

Fuck, bring these to Australia plz plz!

 

[yogurt_21]

interesting, would need to see the full specs but it looks like this would be compatible with my companie's online learning program. For 10$ if that's true we shoudl start stockign and selling them. damn that's cheap.

edit: looks like 35$ is the actual price but the minister plans to bring that price down to 10$. shoot even at 50$ it'd be a steal.

 

[wahdangun]

hmm, how india can make this thing for $35, i hope its not a vaporware like $10 PC they announced but its no where near definition of PC

 

[btarunr]

hmm, how india can make this thing for $35, i hope its not a vaporware like $10 PC they announced but its no where near definition of PC

Distribution already started.

 

[n-ster]

simply... wow

We get ripped off here

it looks like a BETTER iPad xD more for 30$ then we get here for 400$ lol

 

[Easy Rhino]

uh, there isnt a single wifi chip that small that costs $35. that means the government is subsidizing the cost. the real cost i'm sure is way more.

 

[ArkanHell]

Well I bet you can reduce a lot the costs with what they pay to the handwork there!

 

[n-ster]

as if we didn`t outsource production here either....

I'd buy a few right now if I could lol

bta, would you buy me one? xD Then next time you come to North America you can ship it to me

 

[WarEagleAU]

pretty awesome especially considering they can make and sell it for 10 to 30 bucks.

 

[mtosev]

i'm sure that they will pop up on ebay. but at a much higher price.

 

[btarunr]

Local TV news report said that the government is making 50~100 million pieces initially.

 

[W1zzard]

wow thats a lot .. given all the supply drama when apple is making like a million devices i imagine this will be really hard to accomplish

 

[Jarman]

Ipad killlllller!

 

[PCpraiser100]

India pwns the world.....again.

 

[Black Panther]

The device is named Sakshat (meaning "personification" in Sanskrit)

Do they know that many people understand English and don't understand Sanskrit?
And that name doesn't sound really great in English.......

Sorry couldn't resist...




Wait a sec... you mean the normal price is $30?? I hope they will be available for sale outside India, perhaps on ebay or somewhere...

And I have to spend €250 every September to buy my daughter's school textbooks and the rest of her school stuff!

 

[Easy Rhino]

this would be like the U.S. govt buying 20 million iPads and then selling them for $10 dollars. i would be pissed if i were a tax payer in india.

 

[Black Panther]

i would be pissed if i were a tax payer in india.

No reason for that. I assume that the large majority of Indians pay tax, as does everyone else in the world. Further to that it's a "one laptop per child" offer, I don't think children of heavy tax-payers would be excluded.

I take my hat off to the Indian government for this initiative.
Malta should definitely follow example.

 

[mtosev]

this would be like the U.S. govt buying 20 million iPads and then selling them for $10 dollars. i would be pissed if i were a tax payer in india.

they are too poor to notice: Poverty in India is widespread with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 42% of India falls below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day (PPP, in nominal terms Rs. 21.6 a day in urban areas and Rs 14.3 in rural areas); having reduced from 90% in 1980.

 

[Easy Rhino]

No reason for that. I assume that the large majority of Indians pay tax, as does everyone else in the world. Further to that it's a "one laptop per child" offer, I don't think children of heavy tax-payers would be excluded.

I take my hat off to the Indian government for this initiative.
Malta should definitely follow example.

obviously the culture in india is different then in the U.S.

but if they tried to pull this in the U.S. there would be outrage. just another form of wealth redistribution.

my point is that these don't cost $10 to produce. they cost a lot more but are selling them to citizens for $10 and calling it charity.

 

[mdm-adph]

obviously the culture in india is different then in the U.S.

but if they tried to pull this in the U.S. there would be outrage. just another form of wealth redistribution.

my point is that these don't cost $10 to produce. they cost a lot more but are selling them to citizens for $10 and calling it charity.

Just a little tip -- "Wealth Redistribution" != "Investment in Children." :shadedshu

A country that takes tax money and spends it on children ends up with smart children 15 or 20 years down the road. (These children will eventually end up able to produce more, and in the end, the country will make money.)

A country that doesn't, well, ends up like America.