Suneet Singh Tuli,the CEO of Datawind and the man behind Aakash tablet,which,at Rs 2,999,is being promoted as the cheapest android tablet in the world,says his company has already received 1.20 lakh pre-bookings for the device. But he clarified that most of the one crore units being procured by the government in the first batch will go to college students across the country,and not to the rural areas. The government wants every college student in the country to have one of these devices. It is only in the next tier that the schools will be targeted, Tuli said,adding that there was considerable excitement about taking Aakash to the rural population also. Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme organised by The Indian Express at the Delhi School of Management,Delhi Technological University,Tuli said: When we pitch this to the masses,we want to pitch this as a computer,a tablet and a mobile phone,with the added advantage of being an educational device. He said the attempt was to bridge the gap between the 18 million Internet subscribers and the 120 million Internet users,a gap caused by affordability. Then there are the 900 million users who own mobile phones and who have access to power and can afford a top up. people who have a salary of Rs 10,000 and will spend Rs 2,500 to own a computing device that will give access to the Internet,entertainment and basic computing. Admitting that he did not expect technology reviewers to give Aakash great reviews,he said: I just want to provide a good web experience to the entry level users on GPRS as Wi-Fi caters to just a small section of broadband users and 3G is still in a mess in the country. Originally called UBiSlate,the tablet was named Aakash by the Government of India and will be available in the market for Rs 2,999. On the global market for Aakash,Tuli said many countries had expressed an interest in procuring it. I think every country wants to digitally enable their citizens. I have recently held meetings with the government in Thailand,and have received an invitation from the Sri Lankan government too, he said.
