IndoCarib
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A billboard displayed on one of this Swiss towns main thoroughfares succinctly encapsulates the hope and the challenges posed by rapid technological change and globalization both mainstays of the World Economic Forums debate here in snow-blanketed Davos.
Part of Indias bid to promote itself as a technological powerhouse during the forum, it shows a woman in what looks like an Indian university holding a tablet computer with a $35 price tag.
Less than two years after Apple Inc. released its phenomenally successful iPad tablet, Montreals Datawind LLC has made a competing Aakash Ubislate unit for the Indian market with a retail price thats less than a tenth of what the cheapest iPad sells for in the U.S.
If it takes off, this will make the convenience and power of tablet computing accessible for millions of aspiring members of the Indian middle class, people who should themselves then be able use this technology to further become more productive and innovative. But the cost and wage base needed to achieve such price points also puts intense competitive pressure on Apple, Samsung and other tablet producers, as well as on their employees.
Notwithstanding rumors that Aakashs Ubislate tablet could be shelved because of some early glitches, the message from the Indian billboard is: we live in an age when the time lag between which technology goes from being available for well-to-do first adopters to being mass marketed to lower-income consumers has rapidly shrunk.
As most economists will say, the answer to such disruptive developments is for companies to keep innovating. Its a positive feedback loop that is of course evident across many industries, and the good news behind that is that it speaks to continued productivity growth and economic expansion.
Amid the doom and gloom over the global economic outlook thats dominated discussion at this years Davos forum, thats some welcome food for thought.
Indias $35 iPad Competitor Captures Hope, Challenges of Globalization - Davos Live - WSJ
---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------
For those who are celebrating or wishing for a premature demise of Akash; here is more frustration
Part of Indias bid to promote itself as a technological powerhouse during the forum, it shows a woman in what looks like an Indian university holding a tablet computer with a $35 price tag.
Less than two years after Apple Inc. released its phenomenally successful iPad tablet, Montreals Datawind LLC has made a competing Aakash Ubislate unit for the Indian market with a retail price thats less than a tenth of what the cheapest iPad sells for in the U.S.
If it takes off, this will make the convenience and power of tablet computing accessible for millions of aspiring members of the Indian middle class, people who should themselves then be able use this technology to further become more productive and innovative. But the cost and wage base needed to achieve such price points also puts intense competitive pressure on Apple, Samsung and other tablet producers, as well as on their employees.
Notwithstanding rumors that Aakashs Ubislate tablet could be shelved because of some early glitches, the message from the Indian billboard is: we live in an age when the time lag between which technology goes from being available for well-to-do first adopters to being mass marketed to lower-income consumers has rapidly shrunk.
As most economists will say, the answer to such disruptive developments is for companies to keep innovating. Its a positive feedback loop that is of course evident across many industries, and the good news behind that is that it speaks to continued productivity growth and economic expansion.
Amid the doom and gloom over the global economic outlook thats dominated discussion at this years Davos forum, thats some welcome food for thought.
Indias $35 iPad Competitor Captures Hope, Challenges of Globalization - Davos Live - WSJ
---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------
For those who are celebrating or wishing for a premature demise of Akash; here is more frustration
Indian MP's are going to get it :
