Launch date announced for Sakshat, the $35 Indian tablet

September 8, 2010 By Fahmida Y. Rashid

The Sakshat, the $35 Indian tablet everyone's been buzzing about, has an official launch date of early next year and will be brought to you by the same company that once made the world's cheapest Windows laptop.

That Indian $35 laptop we told you about in July is slowly approaching reality, as the Indian government awarded the manufacturing contract to HC LTechnologies. The local computer services firm will deliver the now-officially-named Sakshat by January 10, 2011. HCL has been contracted to manufacture 100,000 units in the first phase.

HCL is no stranger to low-cost laptops, having partnered with Microsoft to roll out the world’s cheapest Windows laptop, the Classmate PC, back in 2008.

According to Live Mint, the Indian Institute of Technology in Rajasthan will test the tablets “in intensive laboratory and field tests across the country.” Testing will also include weather conditions. After testing, the government will purchase one million units to distribute to university students in the second half of the year. There is no information currently available about how the million units will be distributed; there are over 12 million higher education students in India.

The government has allocated 300 million rupees, or $6.5 million, for this project.

LiveMint reports a 9-inch tablet, but there are still several Websites claiming the initial phase will be a 7-inch tablet, with 5-inch and 9-inch versions to follow at a later date. The Sakshat will support video, Web conferencing, and include a PDF reader, unzip utilities, Open Office, Internet browser, and a media player. Specs include 2GB RAM memory, Wi-Fi connectivity, a camera, and a USB port. Power requirements are astoundingly low, requiring only two watts of juice.

Interestingly, the name is recycled from the $10 handheld device the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced last year, but never delivered on. There seems to be no consensus on what Sakshat actually means in Sanskrit, with various reports claiming capability, personification, before your eyes, and embodiment.

The price tag is still expected to be $35 with prices to drop further with government subsidies, although the latest announcement did not address pricing.

Showing 15 comments

harnek at 12:04am 10th January 2011 where to buy in punjab?
Vipul Gupta at 8:33am 5th January 2011 Someone tell me where i can can bought this sakshat
Arun Kumar Singh at 4:16am 29th December 2010 will we able to buy from market ? if yes, then from where in Jamshedpur,Jharkhand
Neeraj Jindal at 6:13am 26th December 2010 will we able to buy from market and if yes then from where
Dixit Wadhwani at 5:51am 12th December 2010 its very col. i like it......its toooooooo cheap
kelum at 6:43pm 14th September 2010 maka maru bandayak lankawata evanne kavadda
rajkiran at 10:30am 12th September 2010 It is really nice tablet pc really very cheap i jst want to khow what is the life of battery and it is ment only for student what about other. will other people buy it at the same rate
jay at 5:04am 9th September 2010 man i'd really love one of these for trips for $35 I wouldn't care about losing it and it'd make a really good/cheap voip phone. The question is what will the battery life be like?
David at 4:22am 9th September 2010 35$ is very cool! but this hasnt been launched by HCL Technologies, it has been done by HCL Infosystems!! please make corrections, someone!
jackp at 4:16am 9th September 2010 Sack of what?
Dan at 4:09am 9th September 2010 these are in no way intended to compete w/ the ipad , it'll most likely run android 1.6 and can't go past that, these are similar to the chinese E/A-Pads, these are great for developing countries and students around the globe
@sidgoyal1 at 3:57am 9th September 2010 Amazing Indian innovation at work. If this becomes a reality, the ipad is going to have a very serious competition. I will purchase one even if it is $100. $35 is just too good. Jai Hind :P
$35,000,000 at 3:19am 9th September 2010 The Sakshat, the $35 Indian tablet After testing, the government will purchase one million units to distribute to university students in the second half of the year. The government has allocated 300 million rupees, or $6.5 million, for this project.
Bill at 1:47am 9th September 2010 2W is infact an astoundingly high power requirement for an ARM device.
gsk at 11:28pm 8th September 2010 www.gskblogger.co.cc good info dear