Govt to launch $35 tablet on Oct 5

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The much-awaited low-cost tablet project will be finally launched in October.

Communications and information technology minister Kapil Sibal Wednesday said the anticipated $35 (approx Rs 1,700) tablet would be made available to school students in the country by next month.

Speaking at an award ceremony held here by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Sibal said the tablet is being launched in a bid to let children go beyond the boundary of classroom and teachers to acquire knowledge through IT.

While a PTI report said that the low-cost device will be launched on October 5.

"Soon, a $35 computer will be made available to every child in school. The tablet shall help enhance the quality of learning of children," said Sibal.

The touchscreen tablet will come with in-built keyboard, video conferencing facility, multimedia content, Wi-Fi, USB port, 32GB hard drive, 2GB RAM, web-conferencing, PDF reader unzip.

Sibal said the name has already been finalised for the device and will be announced at the launch. He, however, did not elaborate about the device, which is being billed as the cheapest computer globally.

Earlier called 'Sakshat', the tablet will be available in different screen sizes like 5-inch, 7 and 10, according to reports.

Touted as the world's cheapest computer, which turned out to be a tablet was earlier price at around Rs 2,200 though it was planned to be sold at around Rs 1,500.

Earlier reports mentioned that there will be a 50 per cent government subsidy, which would make tablet available at around Rs 1,100.

(With input from IANS)