Sakshat: The $15 Tablet PC for Students

In a recent announcement by India’s Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, (who subsequently can now be referred to as ‘The Indian Steve Jobs’) an innovative tablet PC is headed for the market in 2011 - with a retail price of only 15 dollars! The remarkable device, dubbed Sakshat, is made with students in mind, acknowledging the problem of high cost devices essential to a higher education. Developed by the Indian Institute of technology and the Indian Institute of Science, Sakshat costs a mere $30 to manufacture. While even at such an astonishing price already, Sibal seems hopeful that it can be lowered to an unheard of $10.

 

“If more companies decide to manufacture a similar device, prices will come down automatically,” stated Sibal.

Sakshat sports a 10-inch touchscreen, similar to the much higher priced tablet PCs offered elsewhere. It also comes equipped with a USB port, built in WiFi, and case mounted solar panels. Out of the box software will include OpenOffice, PDF, a web browser, a media player, and video conferencing software. All of which runs on a Linux modeled operating system with 2GB of RAM.

Sakshat is on course to be delivered into the hands of Indian students in 2011. “[The] sun will rise for the Indian students in 2011,” states Sibal. Americans take note, as this is how we should encourage and support our own students.

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