Aakash, world’s cheapest tablet, receives over 3Lacs pre-booking

Aakash, widely believed as the world’s cheapest Android tablet, has racked up 3Lac pre-orders before its schedule release in December to the consumer. No price tag has been given to the tablet yet, but previously rumored price crosses $60. Having said that a Rs. 2200 subsidy model is already in circulation among selected students in various Indian education institutes like IITs, RECs etc.

The market estimation was 250000 so we can see it has successfully dwarfed that! But is it a true measure of its popularity? The pre-orders were taken without any token up font, so it is not necessary that all pre-orders turn into sales. In all probability 3Lac is the no. of pre-order forms submitted. Still it is a great figure and kudos to Datawind, the maker for pulling this one through. We understand how this must have been, known the project was almost dead the first time (with a different vendor) Indian Govt. wanted an affordable tablet for masses.

The Aakash has a 7” resistive screen with 256MB RAM, Android 2.2 and 2GB microSD storage with expanded external storage supported. There is a 366MHz processor running by a 2100mAh battery. You have a full USB port which is a useful feature for sure.

There is a second version of Aakash coming in 2012 which should have an 800MHz processor with capacitive screen and more memory.