Ncarry starts selling Aakash tablet in India

Datawind has tied up with Nimbuzz group’s Ncarry.com to sell Aakash tablet in the country. This INR 2500 tablet was also on sale via Aakashtablet.com two weeks ago, but was sold out within days. Ncarry.com is reportedly carrying limited stocks of the tablet and promises to ship in 5-7 days.
Consumers will have option to pay via an online transaction, cash on delivery or even via Cheque/DD, but site says that preference will be given to already-paid orders. Really, so much for giving buyers option to choose payment method, it is like – give us the money else we might dump you for someone with a credit card.
There is no option to choose the Ubislate tablet (commercial version with GPRS connectivity) or even pre-order the upcoming upgraded version.
Price: INR 2499 + INR 199 (shipping) (Buy from here)

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HTC Desire S getting Android 2.3.5, Sense 3.0 update in India

HTC has started rolling out much awaited Android 2.3.5 update for Desire S users in India. This update also brings the Sense 3.0 UI to Desire S. It is available OTA, so you will soon get a notification on your device to download and install the update.
If you have HTC Desire S, you can go to Settings>> About Phone>> Software Update to check the update manually. Although announced on December 15 by HTC India on its official Facebook page, users have started getting it today only.
Update build number – 2.15.720.3
Do let us know about your experience after the update in the comments.

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Android pulls ahead of Symbian in Indian smartphone market

NEW DELHI: The fresh numbers from India's phone market are in and it's not looking too good for Nokia's Symbian smartphones. According to IDC, a market research firm, the data for Q3 this year shows that Android, which is used by companies like Samsung and Sony Ericsson, has beaten Symbian in Indian smartphone market. 

"From an operating system (OS) perspective, Android overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a share of 42.4% of the smartphone market," G Rajeev, lead analyst at IDC. 

"Overall, smartphones shipment for the India market showed an impressive growth of 21.4% over the previous quarter and 51.5% year-on-year. This helped the segment grow its contribution to the mobile phone shipment to 6.5% in Q3 from 5.6% in Q2," added Rajiv. 

Nokia, which uses Symbian in its high-end smartphones, has struggled to make headway against Apple's iPhone and Android-powered phones in this highly lucrative segment. Earlier this year its CEO, Stephen Elop, described Symbian as burning platform and decided to join hands with Microsoft for the company's software needs. 

Lumia 800, a handset that the firm is currently shipping to retailers in India, is Nokia's first smartphone running on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Microsoft too is struggling against iPhone and Android but hopes with the reach and channel of companies like Nokia it will be able to improve the situation by the end of 2012. 

According to IDC, Android saw a growth of 90% over the previous quarter. Apple iOS consolidated further, with a 3.09% share of the smartphone market, compared to 2.6% in Q2 2011. 

IDC said that overall Indian mobile phone market grew by 12% in units shipped, over the previous quarter, to clock 47.07 million units. Year-on-year, there was a shipment growth of 13.8%. 

"The mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable with a sequential growth of 25.2% over the previous quarter," said Deepak Kumar, research director at IDC. 

The quarter gave both Nokia and Samsung - top two players - something to cheer about. While Nokia grew its share of overall mobile phone shipments in Q3 by 6.8% over the previous quarter, Samsung succeeded in increasing its smartphone shipment share by 5% over the same period. 

Overall, Nokia had 31.8% of the mobile phones shipment share in the Q3, followed by Samsung at 17.5%. In the smartphone segment, Nokia led with a shipment share of 35.3%, but Samsung came closer at 26%. 

"The slowdown of Nokia's smartphones shipment is in line with the expectations, that it would be prepping to transition some of its market share from Symbian to Windows," said Deepak.

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HTC Flyer sees massive price cut in India, down to INR 24K

HTC has given a big price reduction to its only tablet in the Indian market ‘Flyer’. It has been retailing for around INR 36,000 since the day it was launched in the country, but the current price cut takes it down to INR 23,990. It is one massive price downfall of 12K.

We can only guess the reasons for taking this step by HTC India, but it is likely that due to the high price of INR 36K, there weren’t many sales. Flyer was also marred because of the presence of Gingerbread, when other tablets were being released with Honeycomb on-board.

We are most likely to see ICS ROMs popping up for Flyer pretty soon. HTC was also said to be working on the official Honeycomb update for the tablet. It is certainly not a bad deal at this price and you will get a 1.5GHz single core processor, 32GB internal memory with microSD cardslot, Android 2.3 with HTC Sense for tablets, HTC Scribe pen input technology, 5MP rear camera, front camera, and 7 inch display.

It also comes with 3G support, 1GB RAM, 4000 mAh battery and the usual Bluetooth, GPS, and 3.5 mm jack.

Grab the HTC Flyer at INR 23,990 fron Flipkart

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Amazon to invest $100 million in Indian operations; hire 3,000 people

The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government has revealed that Amazon is planning a ₹ 500 crore ($100 million) investment in the expansion of its Development Center in Hyderabad and looking to hire 3,000 more people, according to a report by AlooTechie.
Amazon’s vice-president John Schoettler and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, minister for information technology in AP, met to discuss the various legal issues involved with the allotment of land for the expansion of Amazon’s offices, which currently employs about 3,300 people in a 200,000 square feet complex.
It’s no secret that the AP government is thrilled to have Amazon running its enterprises team, financial and ordering services and inventory management out of the state’s capital, as it actively encourages multinational technology companies to expand operations there. Facebook, in particular, has benefited from the state’s support and recently completed its first successful year of operations in Hyderabad.
The operations back-end is not the only thing on Amazon’s expansion agenda for India, as the e-commerce company is reportedly planning to get into online retail in India in the first quarter of 2012. The company currently has stores in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Speaking of giant retailers running e-commerce operations out of India, the world’s largest retailer Walmart announced plans to bring its @WalmartLabs initiative to India with the opening of an innovation lab in Bengaluru, its first outside the USA. The hiring has already begun and the company hopes to kick off operations soon with 100 employees onboard.

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Galaxy Nexus Arriving In India Before The End Of The Year

It looks like another country overseas will be graced by the presence of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus this year. While speaking during a Q&A session at a Samsung Galaxy Note launch event yesterday in India, Samsung’s Ranjit Yadav may have divulged a little more info than he should have. When asked when India would see the launch of the Galaxy Nexus, Yadav said the device’s “tentative launch will be this year and not next.”
While this is nowhere near “official,” we remain hopeful. Maybe our Android brothers in India wont have to wait much longer for the SGN after all. Keep your fingers crossed. Galaxy Nexus world domination is almost upon us!
[Via SammyHub]

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$35 Aakash tablet gets a hands-on, deemed surprisingly OK

The Indian government got some gadget good will when they began subsidizing the incredibly cheap Aakash Android tablet, bringing its student price down to a mere $35. The question on hardware junkies’ minds is, is the experience on such a low-grade device acceptable at all? VentureBeat smuggled one of the tablets out and put together a hands-on, and surprisingly, the Aakash came away with a pretty solid showing.

Naturally the Aakash isn’t going to wow those of us jaded by high-res, high-price Honeycomb tablets. Its Android Froyo operating system and 366 MHz processor are outstripped by the cheapest subsidized smartphones, and a resistive 800 x 400 touchscreen doesn’t hold a candle to more modern devices. But for all that, the tablet includes a couple of surprises along its thick side – full-sized USB ports for a mouse and keyboard. The tablet is designed to teach children to use the web, and in that respect, it could demonstrate the basics of both touchscreen and traditional computer inputs. Unfortunately, there’s no Google apps or Android Market access.
The 7-inch Aakash is, if we’re being generous, utilitarian. If we’re being realistic, it’s ugly. But for all that it’s supposed to do, it’s a surprisingly versatile device, and I know that I would have been thrilled to get something like it when I was in grade school. As a mechanism for bringing modern technology into the most remote regions of India, it looks like the Aakash is a solid performer. There’s still no word on sales outside of India, but even if you could order one, the unsubsidized price is closer to $70 USD.
[via Engadget]

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$35 DataWind Aakash tablet on sale in India

India has long been the home of dirt-cheap tech for the masses, and now you can add an Android tablet to the mix. The Aakash (Hindi for “sky”) tablet is being sold for the equivalent of $45 to the general public, with subsidized $35 versions selling to students and teachers. In local currency it’s about 1,700 Rupees. The basic tablet is being made by budget manufacturer DataWind.

There’s not a lot of info available on the tablet hardware, but we do know that the 7-inch device is running on 2.2 Froyo, like most Android smartphones at the moment. Since video conferencing is mentioned by the Human Resource Development Minister, we can conclude that there’s at least some kind of webcam included. The low-cost devices are intended to “lift villagers out of poverty” by teaching them basic computer skills, including word processing and web browsing.
The Indian government intends to get the Aakash tablet into the hands of no less than 10 million students across the country. If they succeed, that would make India the #1 user of Android tablets, even if they won’t be showing up on Google’s activation press releases any time soon. And before you ask, modders, no, it isn’t being sold outside of India.

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Get the low-down on India’s $45 tablet

India is set to launch a $45 ultra-low cost tablet computer aimed at providing connectivity to the country’s masses.
The tablet, called Akash (meaning Sky), is a government project that was long heralded as innovative, however years of delay and uncertainty have frustrated many advocates of the program.
The limited spec, which is expected given the $45 price-point, is detailed below:

• Running an Android 2.2 operating system
• 7 inch touchscreen
• 32GB expandable memory
• 256-megabyte RAM
• Two USB ports
• Wi-Fi Internet access
• Video conferencing capability
• Internal media player
• Estimated battery life of 180 minutes
• 2GB SD memory card included

AFP confirms that an initial 500 devices will be given to students, with the Indian government hopeful that device manufacturer, Datawind, can produce 700 units per day.
Smartphones and tablet computing are India’s great new hope for connectivity. Current internet penetration rate is below 10%, severely limited the online potential of the the country’s 1.2 billion population.
The Akash is up against strong competition in the budget tablet market, earlier this Hong Kong-based iberry announced a 6,999 rupee ($140) device while Beetel ($180) are amongst others jostled to compete for sales.
The Indian government is not alone in introducing a budget smartphone for the benefit of its population, a key pledge of Thailand’s newly elected Pheu Thai Party was to distributed a tablet-PC to every schoolchild in the country. The government is aiming to begin its distribution of the estimated 400,000 tablets, estimated to cost $100 each, by May 2012.

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Bharti Airtel taps China’s ZTE to begin 4G roll-out in India

It may not be long until Indian mobile users have 4G technology at their fingers as Bharti Airtel’s plan to deploy wireless broadband advances.
Bharti, India’s largest operator, has asked Chinese telcom equipment giant ZTE to begin phase one of its 4G network roll-out initially in the Kolkata region only, according to a report from Economics Times in India.
The report cites an official source which explains that, though ZTE will handle the first implementation, it is not guaranteed any other slices of $300 million valued roll-out Bharti has planned. Instead ZTE will face stiff competition – notably from fellow Chinese rival Huawei – to bring 4G to the three other regions Bharti won following last year’s auction.
Though there is no timeline or date specified for the work, it is widely believed that 4G wireless broadband will be available in India from early next year.
Though Bharti declined to respond to Economic Times, ZTE did confirm that it was starting initial work on the roll-out, while the paper also claims high level meetings have “formalised” ZTE’s initial role in proceedings.
Given that 3G mobile technology only arrived in India last year, the news that 4G is on its way is likely to be well received by many in the country. However, issues remain around mobile operator capacity while 3G-compatible smartphone ownership is low, let alone LTE-device ownership.
There is no doubt, however, that wireless Internet has huge potential in India.
India has emerged as a key market for technology and Internet companies keen to tap the country’s vast potential, with Facebook and Google just two of the many to have set up country offices in the past two years. However fixed-line Internet penetration is very low, reaching less than ten percent of its 1.2 billion population, sapping India’s potential to become a true online giant.
Infrastructure is a key issues with many in rural areas unable to access fixed-line Internet. For these people, wireless technology provides new possibilities for connectivity whilst catering to the millions for whom mobile will be their main Internet access point.
It is early days for India’s 4G network and it will be interesting to observe ZTE and Bharti working on the initial roll-out.

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Samsung invests $70 million to triple mobile production in India

Samsung India announced on Thursday that it had invested ₹ 315 crore ($70 million) in its mobile phone manufacturing plant in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India to triple its output, as reported by Indian Express.
J.S. Shin, Samsung’s President and CEO for the south-west Asia region, remarked that India was one of the top three mobile markets for the company and that it was “working on consistently strengthening our presence in the country through a very innovative mobile portfolio, as well as enhance manufacturing, operations, research and development”.
Its factory in Noida, which had so far been producing 12 million handsets a year, will now be pushing out 36 million of them every year. The company has also bumped the number of workers employed there from 2,500 to 4,000.
Trailing only behind Nokia, Samsung is the second-largest cellphone manufacturer in India by unit sales, and it looks like it’s going to keep holding onto that position for the foreseeable future.
[Image courtesy of Benis Arapovic / Shutterstock.com.]

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