India launches Aakash, $35 tablet computer for students

India is launching an inexpensive Android-based tablet at a price meant to be accessible to many of its less fortunate 1.2 billion citizens: Dubbed the Aakash, the tablet will be sold to students at a subsidized price of $35. It will also be sold to non-students at a later time, for about $60.

A pilot run of 100,000 Aakash tablets will be handed out to students at no charge; the first 500 tablets were distributed at its launch.

The Aakash has a 7-inch touch screen and 256MB of RAM, and runs on Google's Android 2.2 OS. It will support videoconferencing and has two USB ports and a claimed 3-hour battery life, and it runs on a 660-Mhz processor. A Canadian company, DataWind, is building the tablet.

India first announced that it would be supplying low-cost laptops a little over a year ago.

India launches "world's cheapest" tablet computer [Reuters]
Meet Aakash, India's $35 ‘Laptop' [New York Times]
HRD unveils low-cost computer for students [India Times]

—Carol Mangis