263 - Bitter pill to swallow for low-cost Aakash tablet - Pune Mirror

Bitter pill to swallow for low-cost Aakash tablet

Aakash Tablet UbiSlate to pay businessman over `6k for delay

Vijay Chavan

Posted On Monday, March 17, 2014 at 10:19:52 AM

The self-proclaimed ‘world’s cheapest tablet’, originally made for an educational scheme run by the Centre as part of its effort to put ultra-low cost tablets — the Aakash series — in universities and colleges, was launched in 2011, but never quite lived up to its hype, or so it seems.

The Aakash Tablet UbiSlate took a beating last week after the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed it to pay Rs 6,699 to a city-based businessman for not delivering a tablet months after he made online payment in a first such city case.

Aakash is first in a series of Android-based tablet computers promoted by Government of India as part of an initiative to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning programme.

The order was issued by president of Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum V P Utpat and member Geeta S Ghatge after a complaint was filed by Nuruddin Kapadwala, a resident of Kondhwa, against Suneet Singh Suli, CEO of Aakash Tablet UbiSlate Datawind, based in Amritsar, last June for deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

On February 12, 2013, Kapadwala booked an Aakash Ubislate 7Ci Tablet online after paying Rs 4,199. However, on not receiving the product within a week, he exchanged mails with UbiSlate Datawind but they did not deliver the product even after four months. Kapadwala filed a consumer complaint for a reimbursement of Rs, 4,199, Rs 5,000 for legal charges and a compensation of Rs 10,000.

Filing preliminary objections and raising the issue of jurisdiction, Suli said that “the Pune forum has no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the complaint as the office is in Amritsar”, and asked for dismissal of the complaint.

Kapadwala filed a rejoinder to Suli’s response as per Section 11(2) (c) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. He claimed that since it was an e-transaction through his ICICI Bank account, and cause of action arose in Pune, the forum has jurisdiction to entertain the complaint.

After looking at evidence produced before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, the Forum observed that UbiSlate Datawind has committed deficiency in service.

“The company should pay Kapadwala Rs 4,199. He is entitled to the reimbursement and cost of legal proceeding to the tune of Rs 500, and a compensation of Rs 2,000 for mental and physical agony. Rs 6,699 should be paid within six weeks from the date of receipt of this order, or the company will have to pay the amount with 9 per cent monthly interest,” read the order.

262 - Datawind partners with PayUMoney

Datawind partners with PayUMoney

By indiantelevision.com Team Posted on : 14 Mar 2014 03:22 pm

MUMBAI: DataWind the makers of Aakash and Ubislate Tablet PC, and a leading provider of wireless web access products and services ties up with PayUMoney to benefit its consumer base with the 10% of cash-back deal on the purchase of DataWind products.

The tie up between DataWind & PayUMoney gives consumer liberty of cash back of a 10% for every transaction.  Payment can be made though CreditCard, DebitCard and other mobile payment option available on the website.

This Offer can be availed only through PayUMoney payment option on the payment page of the Datawind’s website, buyer need to register them on PayUMoney before making the payment. The Buyer will receive a cash-back for all payments made through PayUMoney. The cash-back will be credited back to the Buyer’s PayUMoney Wallet is valid up to one year, which may then be used for paying for goods or services provided by PayUMoney’s Seller partners. Also the maximum cash-back per transaction will not exceed Rs. 50/- and consumer can utilize it as a discount on the very next purchase as well.

In event the Buyer initiates a refund in respect of a transaction, the amount of cash-back credited to the Buyer’s PayUMoney Wallet shall be debited. In event of initiation of a refund, where the balance credited to the Buyer’s PayUMoney Wallet as cash-back has been utilized by the Buyer towards purchase of goods/services, the Buyer’s PayUMoney Wallet shall be debited by the amount of cash-back and in case the PayUMoney Wallet has zero balance, the PayUMoney Wallet shall show a negative balance equaling the amount of cash-back. Where the cash-back is utilized towards a new transaction and a refund is initiated with respect to such new transaction, the cash-back from the original transaction shall be credited back to the PayUMoney Wallet while the cash-back from the new transaction shall be debited from the PayUMoney Wallet.

261 - Datawind aims to make $20 tablet computer -CBC News

Datawind aims to make $20 tablet computer

Cheapest Ubislate on the market currently costs double that

The Canadian Press Posted: Mar 12, 2014 3:35 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 12, 2014 4:03 PM ET

The cheapest model of Datawind's Ubislate currently sells for $37.99. (Canadian Press)

The Canadian makers of the "world's lowest cost tablet," the UbiSlate 7Ci, think $37.99 still isn't cheap enough.

They figure there's still room to knock about 50 per cent off its price and make tablet ownership possible for anyone and everyone.

"This idea is to bridge the digital divide, it's really that simple, the idea is to overcome the affordability barrier," says Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli during an interview at his Toronto-area office, one of five the company has in Canada, England, Germany and India.

"We think as the Scandinavians do that (internet access) is a fundamental human right."

On the second floor of an unassuming strip mall — strategically located within spitting distance of Toronto's Pearson airport, where Tuli says he's coming from or going to a few times a week — the Datawind team is working on its strategy to sell cut-rate "good enough" tablets.

Aakash tablets for Indian students

Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli says the company's founders think internet access is a fundamental human right. (Parivartan Sharma/Reuters)

The company is best known for its work with the Indian government, which it supplied with low-cost tablets for a program to get technology into the hands of students.

Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli says the company's founders think internet access is a fundamental human right. (Parivartan Sharma/Reuters)

Datawind was recently named one of the world's 50 smartest companies by the MIT Technology Review magazine for launching those tablets, branded under the Aakash name.

While India's government is considering proposals from Datawind and other vendors to make the next version of the Aakash, the company has turned its attention to North America and the U.K. to sell its tablets directly to consumers under the UbiSlate brand.

The cheapest version of the seven-inch tablet, the UbiSlate 7Ci, has a not-too-sharp screen resolution of 800 by 480 pixels, four gigabytes of memory, half a gigabyte of RAM, runs a current version of Google's Android operating system and can only get online with WiFi. It sells online for $37.99 plus taxes and shipping. The next model up, the UbiSlate 7C+, costs an additional $42 to gain access to EDGE mobile networks. The most expensive model, the UbiSlate 3G7 at $129.99 plus taxes and shipping, has a better screen and processor and can also access HSDPA 3G mobile networks.

Company makes its own screens

Tuli says the company can sell the tablets so inexpensively because of the scale of its production runs and the fact that it makes its own screens, which helps boost profit margins. A preloaded web browser also displays ads that generate additional revenue for Datawind — although users can choose to download another ad-free browser — and the company monetizes some downloads of apps.

Datawind has also kept its prices down by selling directly to consumers through its website and not seeking retail partners.

"Something that costs $50 to make ends up at $150 easily at retail," he says.

"In our case, something that costs $32 to make ends up at $38 in the consumers' hands."

Tuli says he envisions the price of Datawind's lower-end tablet slipping below $20 "within the next year or two," especially if revenues from ads and apps grow.

"We think pricing will continue coming down and we think features will continue going up. We will keep our high end between $100 to $150, we don't see ourselves going up anything higher than that, but we'll continue pushing the barriers on the lower end," he says.

Reviews far from positive

While he insists that Canadian consumers won't find the tablets lacking, the reviews for Datawind's tablets in India were far from positive. And anyone who has used an iPad or a higher-end Android tablet will notice a major difference in performance.

But he believes there is a strong market of consumers who are willing to trade performance for a low price.

"What we tried to focus on was realizing that for our customer, price is the most important feature and starting with that element we said, 'What can we bundle in to provide a performance experience that would be good enough for them?"' Tuli says.

"You want something for your kids to take to school.... Kids are going to lose them or break them and you want something that you're not worried (about)."

© The Canadian Press, 201

260 - Aakash 4 launch likely to hit election roadblock - Live Mint

Aakash 4 launch likely to hit election roadblock

Many firms fail to meet technical specifications, and a fresh bidding process may not start soon as elections loom

Moulishree Srivastava 

Aakash was developed as part of the country’s programme of linking 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning programme. The cost of the basic version for a student was only Rs.1,500. Photo: HT

The government’s plan to commercially launch Aakash 4, the fourth generation of the low-cost computer tablet promoted by minister of communications and information technology Kapil Sibal, this month may be delayed.

Most companies that bid to manufacture the device failed to meet the technical specifications, because of which the process may be scrapped, according to a senior government official.

Starting a new process will not be possible due to the election code of conduct that will kick in once dates for the Lok Sabha polls are announced; this is expected later this week.

“There were 11 samples sent to us (by companies that bid), but almost all the samples had small or big problems,” said Rajat Moona, appellate authority and director general of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), the Pune-based research and development wing of the IT ministry that was the official testing agency for the tablets. Moona listed software and battery problems and said the companies would “now submit samples by the first week of March after rectifying the shortcomings”.

If they still don’t meet the specifications, the process will have to be scrapped, he admitted.

Jayanth Kolla, founder of Convergence Catalyst, a research firm, said the real issue is timing. Once the elections are announced, the Election Commission’s code of conduct comes into effect, preventing governments from doing anything that could even remotely influence voters. The announcement on election is imminent and given that, “if none of the bidders qualify for the specifications, the government won’t be able to refloat the tender,” said Kolla.

And if it doesn’t happen in March, “the project might get delayed or even shut down,” said Manasi Yadav, senior market analyst at research firm International Data Corp. (IDC).

The government had been planning to launch Aakash 4 in the market by the end of March, eyeing a market worth Rs.500 crore in a year’s time, according to the tender floated by the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) in January.

“Earlier it (Aakash 4) was supposed to hit the market by January and then again in the February, but because of the shortcomings, the whole process was delayed and now we expect it to be out in market by March-end,” said Moona.

Moona confirmed that the ministry is looking at a Rs.500 crore market in a year, which translates to about 1.25 million units at a price of Rs.4,000.

J. Satyanarayana, secretary, department of IT, sidestepped a question on the delay and said the process “is very much on. There are 10-12 companies which entered bidding process for the tender. Right now we are in procurement and testing stage. We will then be choosing the lowest bid and ask the companies to match it. The (overall) process should be completed by March”.

Aakash was developed as part of the country’s programme of linking 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning programme. The cost of the basic version for a student was only Rs.1,500.

The newest version of the Aakash tablet is expected to have inbuilt support for Wi-Fi, bluetooth (also a wireless technology) as well as support for external devices including a storage device, keyboard, mouse, data connectivity (2G and 3G) dongles in India, a scratch and impact-resistant 7-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen and extended battery support.

The Aakash project, which started in 2011 with the first version of the low-cost computer tablets being supplied by Canada-based Datawind Ltd, was criticized by students and experts for the poor quality and performance of the tablets.

Aakash 2, launched a year later also failed to impress. There was no Aakash 3; the next upgrade, called UbiSlate 7C+, was sold by Datawind.

Datawind’s chief executive officer Suneet Singh Tuli said his company hopes to win the order “this time as well”.

Analysts remain sceptical about the newest version of the tablet. “On paper, the technical specifications look fine, but the actual product might be different when translated in terms of user experience,” said Kolla. The price is low and to meet the specifications, companies “may have to compromise on the quality of hardware”, said IDC’s Yadav, adding that earlier versions suffered from the same problem.