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India Unveils New Version Of The ‘World’s Cheapest Tablet’

November 12th, 2012

India has launched a new version of its ultra-low-cost tablet computer with a quicker processor and an improved battery, on sale to students at the subsidised price of $20.

The Aakash tablet, dubbed the world’s cheapest computer, has been developed as a public-private partnership aimed at making computing technology available to students in a country where Internet usage is only at around 10 percent.

Makers of the tablet, Britain-based Datawind, say the Aakash 2 is powered by a processor that runs three times faster than the original, has a bigger touchscreen and a battery with a life of three hours.

“Technology enabled learning is a very important aspect of education,” Indian President Pranab Mukherjee said Sunday at an official launch function.

“This must be adapted to our specific needs and introduced expeditiously in all educational institutions across the country,” he added.

The first version of the Aakash was launched by the government in October last year but it was marred by problems including a short battery life, initial long waiting lists and difficulties with distribution.

The paperback-book-sized Aakash 2, developed by Indian engineers at elite IIT public universities, runs the Google operating system Android 4.0 and has a screen measuring seven inches (18 centimetres) wide.

“Unlike the previous version which was a non-starter, this time around there are some functions and features around the Android tablet which make it a decent computing device for that price,” stated pluggd.in, an Indian website that analyses gadgets.

The first 100,000 devices will be sold to students at engineering colleges and universities at a subsidised price of 1,130 rupees (20 dollars) and subsequently Aakash 2 will be distributed to book stores in Indian universities.

Datawind says the commercial sale price without subsidies for Aakash 2 is 3,500 rupees (64 dollars).

Over 15,000 teachers at 250 colleges have been trained on the use of Aakash for education, according to India’s human resource development ministry.

The country has nearly 115 million Internet users, giving it the the third-largest number in the world after China and the United States, but low penetration rates, data from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) shows.

Source:http://www.businessinsider.com/new-version-of-worlds-cheapest-tablet-2012-11

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Tags: India Software Tablet

India Shares Trade Slightly up in Early Trade; Software Services Gain

October 31st, 2012

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Indian shares are slightly higher in volatile trade early Wednesday as investors shifted to safer bets in the software services and pharmaceutical sectors and banks recovered slightly after a sharp fall Tuesday, when they were hit by more stringent provisioning norms.

At 0500 GMT, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark 30-stock Sensitive Index was up 28.98 points, or 0.2%, at 18,459.83. On the National Stock Exchange, the 50-share Nifty index was up 8.80 points at 5,606.70.

“We see state-owned banks as more weak as the Reserve Bank of India has asked all lenders for more provisioning against bad assets,” said A. K. Prabhakar, senior vice president at Anand Rathi Securities.

In its policy statement Tuesday, the central bank asked all banks to set aside more cash to cushion themselves against the impact of any restructured debt that may turn bad. Effective immediately, the provisioning will be raised to 2.75% of the loans restructured from the previous 2.0%.

Mr. Prabhakar said the move will hit state-owned banks harder as they have more restructured assets. He said there were chances that the Reserve Bank of India could slowly raise the provisioning limits further.

A central bank panel report in July recommended increasing the ratio to 5.0% of the loans restructured in several phases.

State Bank of India was 0.2% higher at 2,079.00 rupees ($38.10), while ICICI Bank was 0.1% lower at 1,043.55 rupees.

Software shares were up helped by the weaker rupee versus the dollar, which benefit software services exports.

The dollar was last at 54.18 rupees versus 53.96 late Tuesday.

Wipro was up 1.3% at 351.90 rupees, while Infosys was 0.3% higher at 2,364.00 rupees.

Among pharmaceuticals, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was up 2.3% at 1,762.30 rupees, while Cipla was up 1.5% at 359.90 rupees.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20121031-700736.html

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India IT spending to reach $71.5 bn in 2013

October 11th, 2012

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IT spending in India is projected to total $71.5 billion in 2013, a 7.7 percent increase from the $66.4 billion forecasted for 2012, according to Gartner. The telecommunications market is the largest IT segment in India with IT spending forecast to reach $47.8 billion in 2013, followed by the IT services market with spending of $10.3billion. The computing hardware market in India is projected to reach $9.5 billion in 2013, and software spending will total nearly $4.0 billion. Software will record the strongest revenue growth at 15 percent, IT services will grow at 12 percent. The telecom segment, which accounts for 67 percent of the Indian ICT market, is set to grow at 7 percent revenue growth in 2013.

“India like other emerging markets continues exercising strong momentum despite inflationary pressures and appreciation of local currencies, which are expected in rising economies,“ said Peter Sondergaard, SVP and global head of research at Gartner.

While IT is the primary driver of business growth, concerns around the economic slowdown are gathering strength and are a matter of concern. In Gartner’s latest CEO survey, 85 percent of CEOs believe they will be negatively impacted by the global economic slowdown. However, IT will remain well supported by CEOs compared with other areas of investment. Two-thirds of CEOs believe IT will make a greater contribution in their industries in the next 10 years than in any prior decade. Despite the troubled global economy, 40 percent of CEOs intend to raise their investment in IT.

“We live and work in an age of incredible promise. An age unleashed by a nexus of forces; social, mobile, information and cloud. While there is economic uncertainty there is also enormous opportunity. IT is at the center of every business, every government agency from the backend and the edge, directly to the customer. These forces are innovative and disruptive just taken on their own, but brought together, they are revolutionizing business and society,” Sondergaard said. “This nexus defines the next age of computing. To understand this change, you must appreciate each of the forces.”