By SiliconIndia | Monday, 23 September 2013, 06:35 Hrs
All of this is going to become possible within the next two to three years as the cost of tablet computers and Smartphones drops to the Rs 1,500 level and internet access becomes cheaper and more widely available, according to Vivek Wadhwa of Times Of India.
The Indian government inadvertently triggered this revolution by sanctioning the Aakash tablet. It only ordered 1,00,000 unit, but the project got so much attention that it ended up lowering the expected base price of tablet technologies from the $400-500 that is common in the West to $35-50. This would not have happened on its own.
The manufacturer, Datawind, has become a leading tablet supplier in India and abroad. These have also been tested in American schools by disadvantaged communities and were proved to be viable.
Right now Android Smartphones by the companies like Karbonn, Micromax, Lava and others are offered at a price as low as 5, 000, and in future handsets may cost even less.
This will also trigger an e-commerce revolution that will make the U.S. dotcom boom look lame; the online shopping sites like flipkart.com, GoVasool.com may be huge like Amazon.com in U.S. Apps such as LocalCircles.com will connect neighborhoods and communities all over India, providing them with a way of solving common problems. And poorest of the poor can have new apps to teach skills and children all over India will start connecting and learning from each other. Technology will make it possible for any poor child to gain the same knowledge as the privileged anywhere in India and across the world.
And media and entertainment industry will also see a rapid change as with tablets and Smartphones becoming ubiquitous. Entrainment industries can rent the movies, and other videos online, and media may move from print to online.
