Tablet war in Indian telecom market: domestic versus foreign

Telecom Lead India: Cost effective tablets are the new
phenomena in the growing tablet PC market. These days a multitude of
Indian made tablets are flooding the country. Tablet makers are betting high on
Indian-made (assembled) tablets.

 

Indian tablet market is huge and there is a big potential
for the Indian tablet makers to tap the virgin market. Indian tablet market is
observing a transition from desktop PC to tablet PC, as more and more people
are seeking to adopt the mobility offered by tablets.

 

However, the lack of penetration of Wi-Fi and 3G services
is hindering the launch of the low-cost devices by Indian device makers.

 

“Though the tablet ecosystem is at a nascent stage,
the proliferation of tablets is expected to increase significantly with the
launch of faster data technologies and growing awareness among customers. The
success of tablets in India would depend on affordability, applications with vernacular
support, and quality data connectivity,” said Abhishek Chauhan, senior
consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South
Asia and Middle East.

 

Since its launch last year, Aakash tablet has been the
catalyst of Indian tablet PC revolution. Aakash tablet, jointly manufactured by
Datawind and IIT Rajasthan, under the guidance of Ministry of HRD, has paved
the way for cost-effective tablets for Indian market.

 

According to a research, it is estimated that more than
8,000 tablet PCs are sold every day in India. With the mushrooming of these
cost-effective Indian made tablets, the existing low-cost tablet market in
India is expected to get a massive boost.

 

As per the data available with Computer Market Research
(CMR), Indian consumers will buy around 85,000 tablet PCs in 2012, figures
which attracted over 15 players into the category. By 2017, the number of
tablets sold in India will reach approximately 23.38 million.

 

Low-cost mobile handset makers, such as Karbonn Mobiles,
Micromax and Lava are also planning to enter the tablet market with their
low-cost tablets.

 

However, these Indian manufactures will face stiff
competitions from other technology companies such as Huawei and ZTE. These
Chinese giants have launched their cost-effective tablets. Reliance
Communication’s 3G tablet is also manufactured by ZTE.

 

Recently, mobile
services provider BSNL launched three tablets with the cheapest model costing
Rs 3,250. These new tablets from BSNL will directly compete with Aakash
tablets which are available at Rs 2,250 for students.

 

Furtehrmore, Zync Global, a Noida based company unveiled
cheapest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet for Rs. 8990 called
Zync Z990 tablet that sports a 17.8-cm (7-inch) capacitive touch screen with
800X480 Pixels resolution and is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB RAM.

 

WishTel India, the second lowest bidder for Aakash
project, is now collaborating with Via Technologies and building
products for Aakash 2 offering. 

 

WishTel has also built Tablet PCs for education market
which comes bundled with School Education for different state boards,
ICSE, CBSE, as well as Education delivery for IIT Engineering courses.
These tablets PCs are entirely designed and manufactured in India and
supports regional languages. WishTel also builts higher end products for
enterprises, Government, etc. 

 

There is big opportunity for Indian tablet makers to
produce devices for businesses. Benagluru-based EAFT Technologies India is
offering a range of MagicTile tablets and works as a B2B player rather than a
B2C player. The company is targeting educational institutions to sell its
products.

 

Furthermore, Benagluru-based Lakshmi Access
Communications Systems (LACs) and Bhati Group’s Beetel have their tablet range
called Magnum and Beetel Magiq respectively.

 

Magnum range starts at Rs 6,999, whilst Beetel Magiq
range starting from Rs 9,800.

Danish Khan
editor@telecomlead.com

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