Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) A "US$35" tablet computer, touted as the world's cheapest so far, will be introduced to Taiwan at an international conference on India's development of information and communications technology (ICT) in Taipei on Dec. 28.

The tablet, called "Aakash," meaning sky in Hindi, was developed at the initiative of India's Ministry of Education to create affordable tablets for ordinary people. It was launched in October and has been sold to students at the subsidized price of US$35 per unit.

Sandeep Yadav, who co-hosts the Aakash project, will bring the lightweight touch-screen device to the planned conference organized by the Taipei Computer Association (TCA).

TCA said it had invited local experts and experts from Japan and India to the event to discuss India's ICT development, business opportunities and talent, hoping the meeting would boost interaction between Indian ICT developers and Taiwanese hardware makers.

Some of the parts and components used in the cheap tablet are made in Taiwan, TCA executives said, and the Dec. 28 conference will attract the participation of many local part and component makers and notebook OEM factories.

According to the TCA, Aakash was jointly developed by the Indian Ministry of Education and U.K. computer hardware manufacturer DataWind.

The tablet, 1.6 centimeters thick and weighing 350 grams, has a 7-inch screen. It runs Android 2.2, has a data storage capacity of 256 MB, and supports Wi-Fi wireless web services.

(By Chung Jung-feng and Elizabeth Hsu)
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