Low cost Indian tablet computer has Canadian connection

  Aakash 2 press conference at the UN with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Indian Ambassador to the USA Hardeep Singh Puri and Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli  November 28, 2012.

Aakash (sky in Hindi) is the name given to the low-cost tablet computers being procured by the Indian government to help enhance the quality of education.  It is envisioned that computing and internet access used in a blended learning environment will empower both students and teachers. The Indian government has laid out a vision to equip all 220 million students across the country over the next few years with such products.

The Aakash was developed by DataWind, a British manufacturing and marketing company originally founded in Montreal in 2001 by brothers Suneet and Raja Tuli from the Indian state of Punjab. With its research and development based in Montreal, the company until 2010 marketed its production primarily in the UK.  Now headquartered in London, the company also has offices in Amritsar, Punjab, India; Dallas, Texas, and Mississauga. 

Launched on October 5th, 2011, the first version of Aakash was designed, developed and manufactured by DataWind based on the specifications set by the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan. For supply to students, the Indian government not only waived duties and taxes, but also further subsidizes the cost by 50%.  At the subsidized price, the tablet will cost about the price of a pair of shoes or a basic mobile phone.

Aakash 2:

Launched on November 11th, 2012, the second version of Aakash is designed, developed and manufactured by DataWind. The product is currently being supplied to the  Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, who in turn is tasked with application development, content integration, field testing and deployment.  The device utilizes multi-touch projective capacitive touch screens, manufactured at Datawind's touch-screen manufacturing facility in Amritsar. It is powered by a Cortex A8-1Ghz processor and contains 512 MB RAM.  CEO Tuli said the tablet was a work in progress and that significant enhancements would be made every 6 months.    Data Wind announced that it had completed delivery of 100,000 units by the beginning of May.