It has been a cause of curiosity, speculation and even ridicule in the world of technology. Some called it a revolutionary product, some called it a dream that will never be realized. Others simply wrote it off, calling it vaporware, saying making a tablet in $35 is impossible, since the touchscreen itself costs that much.
But the initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development is all set to be realized today.
The Ministry is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the final product lives up to the hype and expectations surrounding the $35 tablet.
NDTV Gadget Guru has been following the evolution of this tablet right from the prototype stage. We believe that the final product will be very different from what the world has seen or knows about it till now. It will be interesting to see how close the final price of the tablet will be to the much touted $35 mark. It will no doubt be the cheapest tablet and have a shockingly low price, but our guess is that it will be priced slightly higher than the $35 mark.
It will retain the positives of the original concept behind this device. The fact that it is assembled here in India will give it the "Made in India" tag. The fact that it will pack in a lot of content targeted primarily at students but not restricted to this consumer base alone. It has the potential to make internet and its benefits accessible to a population where computer and internet penetrations are still very low.
Our fear, is that there will be some compromises on the hardware front to keep the price in check. The screen is sure to be a resistive one. And like the prototype we saw it is going to be a wi-fi only device for now. The first lot of the tablets released may not have the camera and the stylus
(which we had seen in the prototype last year).
But the makers of the tablet believe that once the volume of production picks up, they will be able to provide upgrades to the hardware and also pack in more feature within this price.
Kapil Sibal and his team behind this project, believe that the roadmap ahead is to take this Made in India product out into the international market to benefit people, especially students across the globe, particularly in developing countries.
You can catch the live coverage of the launch, hands-on review of the Tablet and exclusive interviews with people behind the tablet, on our site from 2.30PM IST.