
The Truth about $35 Android Tablet from Indian Government - niyazpk
http://androidos.in/2010/09/the-truth-about-35-android-tablet-from-indian-government/
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nanairo
Even if it were so, I find this kind of attitude damaging for society.

It's the same thing in Europe or the USA: nationalistic pride results in more
expensive products, and people complain why they aren't cheaper. If instead
they are cheaper but produced abroad they complain why they were not made in
our home country, and why are we giving money to foreigners.

If the Indian government found that the only way to get a 35$ tablet was from
a chinese company, kudos to them to do what's best for their society. A cheap
tablet will be a lot more useful than the damage it will bring to Indian
pride.

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kiuyhjk
No - the Indian government claimed that the tablet was possible because of
their world lead in IT and the involvement of Indian universities. It did this
for it's own political purposes and to the embarrassment of the university
involved.

As everyone on here knows, like OLPC, it would end up actually costing more
than and doing less than a commercially produced model - like every other
government initiative.

It seems that in this case they simply got caught cheating.

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pavs
Whether this proves to be right or not, you should always be skeptical about
indian government's frivolous claims. From my personal experience I can tell
you its not limited to the government, this kind of attitude it very common
among businesses and entrepreneurs in India.

Another good example would be try posting for a freelance dev job in any job
boards and watch the frivolous offers trickle down without anyone even reading
what the requirements of the jobs are.

I wonder if this is a cultural thing.

Also for some blind patriotism read the comments on this blog post.

PS. Before anyone starts bashing me for generalizing. I am from that region,
and have quite a few first hand experience.

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nrbafna
I would agree to that a lot and history would justify it too, in Indian
government's case.

But, making an overall generalization for "all" Indians is a bit hurtful,
personally. There is no denying about the job boards things, but that
generalization is not true, atleast from my personal experience of college
life at BITS, Pilani and interaction with students from IIT's.

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iuguy
I don't mind paying the Indian government $35 for a $100 chinese tablet.

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middlegeek
Intriguing, but not yet a smoking gun. Could the Chinese company have been a
source for some of the exterior parts? Could the Chinese company be pirating
the Indian design?

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pbhjpbhj
I was thinking that perhaps the Indian gov had taken the Chinese device and,
still using the external case, modified the internals to replace them with
cheaper components.

Indeed they could even purchase the dies for the case and actually manufacture
the whole thing in India. Would the lack of Indian case design make it not
Indian? Not quite a smoking gun.

What one needs is a powerful Indian media company to ask for an example to
look at and a trip to the factory.

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extension
_"Whatever patents are necessary, will be filed and protected", Mr N K Sinha,
Joint Secretary at the HRD Ministry announced. "But the industry today is
such, that most of the parts necessary, are available straight off the
shelf."_

All the parts, in fact!

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wccrawford
Or maybe the companies worked together on it and they each get to release it
as a product.

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nrbafna
Publishing it before the actual confirmation from Hivisons or HCL isn't
exactly "the truth".

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niyazpk
A few more details: [http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/jaimonjoseph/326/62006/is-
indias...](http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/jaimonjoseph/326/62006/is-indias--
35-laptop--really-indian.html)

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ravichhabra
Bad choice of Mobile OS for the government. Android does not support Indian
Languages, no Complex Text Layout in it. Should have went with MeeGo.

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keeptrying
Yeah this is no big deal. If the government want to subsidise a product so
that it easily available to its citizens, more power to them.

