PAID ORDERS FOR AAKASH IN 6 WEEK

DATAWIND TO CLEAR ALL PAID ORDERS FOR AAKASH IN 6 WEEK

Datawind, the maker of Aakash tablet PC, has said it will clear all backlog of paid orders for the commercial version of tablet within next six weeks.

All the paid orders (for tablets with) resistive and capacitative (screens) without SIM will be cleared in next 10 days. But the ones that want tablet with SIM they will be cleared in the next 4 to 6 weeks," DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli told PTI.

The company is offering new models of Aakash, dubbed as the cheapest computer, with two kind of touchscreens - resistive and capacitative. Capacitative touchscreens responds better than resistive touchscreens when touched by finger to operate the tablet PC. The company has received around 40 lakh orders for its Ubislate tablet PC, which has similar specifications to the first version of Aakash tablet, he said. The first version of tablet had processor with 366 Megahertz, 256 MB RAM and 2GB flash memory. It has WiFi based Internet connectivity option.

Total number of paid customer was around 1 to 1.5 per cent (of the total)," Tuli said.The company has introduced new version of Ubislate tablet with 1 Ghz processor, 512 MB RAM, 4GB flash memory and is giving option to customers to shift to this new product by paying Rs 500 extra.The new model of Aakash runs the Google operating system Android 4.0 and has a screen measuring seven inches wide.It is only for those who have ordered in advance. For those who don't want to shift to other we are supplying them the same product. People who don't want to wait, we are refunding their money," he said.Tuli said that his company is going to start production of SIM-based tablets within two weeks.Datawind CEO said that the company is producing and shipping around 2,500 to 3,000 tablets PCs on a daily basis but receiving additional orders every day which is adding to the backlog.He said that the company is ramping up production to 10,000 units every day.

"Right now we are doing 2,500-3,000(units) a day. We are targeting that, by end of the year, around 10,000 (units) on a daily basis. Then we will keep enhancing expanding," Tuli said.