The world's cheapest tablet computer has clocked 1.4 million bookings since it was put up for sale online two weeks ago in India, a spokeswoman told AFP on Tuesday. Bookings for the long-awaited Aakash, pegged at 2,500 rupees ($41), began on December 14, two months after it was unveiled as the "computer for the masses" in India where millions struggle to fund their education.
Datawind, the British company contracted by the Indian government to manufacture Aakash, said it had been taken by surprise by the response in India, where Apple's iPad computers costs a minimum of $600. "The current response is overwhelming," a spokeswoman at the company's New Delhi PR agency told AFP in an email that detailed the number of bookings made so far.
Datawind is now taking orders for an upgraded version, called Ubislate 7 for March, and it will establish three new factories in 2012 to cope with the rush of orders. "We plan to produce 75,000 units per factory per month from around April," the spokeswoman said. The Economic Times in its online edition said the makers had run out of stock of Aakash, which has a seven-inch (18-centimetre) touchscreen, Wi-Fi Internet function, a multimedia player and 180 minutes of battery power.
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