Indian’s low cost Aakash tablet got a huge response and many users have already ordered it, but it seems the waiting period is getting longer and longer day by day. It started with the performance issues; in fact the 366 MHz processor is just too slow and I wonder why it was approved in the first place.
Add to this there are disputes going on between vendor (IIT Rajasthan) and Aakash manufacturer (Datawind). As we all know the educational institutes in India were supposed to get the Aakash tablet at almost 50% discounted price.
As per news sources IIT Rajasthan has rejected about 3000 tablets citing slow performance, low battery and low grade screen quality and panels. Datawind has yet to supply about 10,000 tablets after which the payments will be made. But it seems IIT Rajasthan is not happy with the Ubislate 7 (the first Aakash tablet) and I don’t think Datawind will spend extra money in fixing the issues, instead they may go for the Ubislate 7+ a better version.
Datawind on the other hand has refused to supply any more tablets to IIT Rajasthan and have asked them to clarify the specifications. The Govt on the other hand has now realized that more processing power is needed probably 1 GHz processor and a capacitive touch screen would be a better choice, this will also mean increasing the price tag. The Govt has issued fresh tenders for the same.
Rainproof and Shockproof are some of the required specification by IIT Rajasthan which the Datawind has ignored stating that it is impossible for that price. It is really strange that IIT are coming with their own specifications when the tablets are readily available, why were they not involved in the initial process?
Anyway for commercial users the delay may get even longer. I think the tablet delivery process has slowed down and it seems the company is asking for cheque or demand draft instead of cash on delivery.