IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 24
tools & toys
Searching for
the aakaSh
Yet another ultracheap computer project
falls short of the mark
E
arly in January 2012,
Suneet Singh Tuli,
CEO of DataWind,
a small computer company
based in Montreal, told
The Economic Times of India
that advance orders for its
2500 rupee (about US $50)
tablet computer had reached
1.4 million units in just two
weeks-besting the record of
Apple and its iPad. The tablet,
dubbed the Aakash (Hindi
for "sky"), had been promoted
24
by the Indian government
through a contract to
DataWind as an ultralow-cost
computer for the country's
1.2 billion citizens. We
contacted IEEE Spectrum.
Would it be interested in a
review? Of course it would.
The tablet was released
this past October. Also
that month, Kapil Sibal,
minister of human resources
development in New Delhi,
had announced in a press
NA * iEEE SpEctrum * April 2012
conference that around
10 000 samples were being
given to students in various
engineering institutes to test
the functionality of the tablet.
The three of us set out to
find a unit. After a fruitless
week of calling around Delhi,
we learned that the Indian
Institute of Technology
Rajasthan, in Jodhpur,
had samples available.
So after an 11-hour train
ride to Jodhpur, we were
hospitably entertained by
Prem Kalra, the director
of IIT Rajasthan, and his
colleagues. Kalra and his
group had first conceived
of the Aakash tablet, and
they told us its history.
Inspired by the One
Laptop Per Child project, in
2006 the Indian government
opened bids for ultracheap
computers to the premier
technical institutes
across India. Kalra, then
teaching at IIT Kanpur,
won the competition.
Kalra moved the project
to Jodhpur in 2009 when he
assumed the post of director
of the new IIT there, and he
continued to lead a small team
to develop the tablet. Based
on Kalra's plans, in early
2011 the Indian government
contracted with DataWind
to manufacture the tablet.
We were not allowed
to take the tablet from the
spectrum.ieee.org
daryL VissCher/redux
TABLET RASA: Suneet
Singh tuli is the founder
and cEO of DataWind,
which manufactures
the $50 Aakash.
http://spectrum.ieee.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum April, 2012
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 1
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 2
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 3
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 4
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 5
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 6
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 7
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 8
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 9
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 11
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 12
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 13
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 18
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 21
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 22
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 23
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 24
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 25
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 26
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 27
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 28
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 29
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 30
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 31
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 32
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 33
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 34
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 35
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 36
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 37
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 40
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 41
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 42
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 49
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 50
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 58
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IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 60
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 61
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 62
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 63
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 64
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 65
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 66
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 67
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 68
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 69
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 70
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 71
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - 72
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum April, 2012 - Cover4
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