BANGALORE, INDIA: Though late, Pakistan has finally forayed into the fast advancing information technology arena with making of tablet PC-- PAC-PAD 1. It might seem as an unsual move for the Pakistan Air Force, known for assembling parts of fighter aircraft, to build a technology for consumers, but the country has changed with the times.

At $200 with a one-year warranty, PAC-PAD is far cheaper than Apple's iPad or Samsung's tablets devices. PAC stands for the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, where it is being made. From making fight aircraft to computers, the change is very much evident on PAC’s website (http://www.cpmc.pk/) whose goal is stated as: “strengthening the national economy through commercialization."

Pakistan's homegrown 7-inch tablet is Wi-Fi enabled and comes with full HD resolution, runs on Android 2.3 on a 1GHz ARM processor and has 256MB of RAM and storage space between 2GB and 16GB.

PAC builds the PAC-PAD with a company called Innavtek in a Hong Kong-registered partnership.

More than a fresh beginning in information technology, it could be Pakistan's way of countering its neighbouring country India which is making vast strides in technology. Pakistan's military has been battered by several coups since 1947. With rising concern for slowing economy, many Pakistanis feel the need for the country to venture into verticals that bear the potential to boost revenue.

“It’s about using spare capacity. There are 24 hours in a day, do we waste them or use them to make something? The profits go to the welfare of the people here. There are lots of auditors. They don’t let us do any hanky-panky here,”  Sohail Kalim, PAC’s sales director, was quoted by Time magazine.

Apart from PAC-PAD, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex also makes laptop PAC-nBOOK 1 and e-reader PAC-eBOOK 1. All these products can be ordered online.