Can Aakash 2 redeem the fiasco that was Aakash?

Around this time last year, the country was abuzz with talks of ‘Aakash’, the world’s cheapest tablet and an educational initiative by the Indian government. Reams were written about how it has made every Indian proud and how it would change the educational sphere in developing nations, especially India.Aakash was an ambitious project by the Indian government and a huge leap at achieving our long standing dream of a $35 laptop. Arguably, the highlight of the tablet was the price point, which was as low as Rs. 2,500 (around Rs. 3,000 for the upgraded version). Aakash 2 takes this competitive pricing a step further as government plans to make it available to students at a subsidised price of Rs. 1,300. However, the commercial version, i.e. the Ubislate 7Ci, is still priced at Rs. 4,299.To be honest, we’re a price-driven society and it’s highly doubtful that many would have even given serious thought to what Datawind had to offer within the device. This was quite evident when the device received 3 lakh orders within a couple of days, which rose to 20 lakhs plus in January and over 3 million by August (that excluding the 1 lakh units ordered by the Indian government). 

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