Efforts like ‘One Laptop per Child’, aimed at delivering laptops below $100 has not really picked up in the country, as expected. Cashing in on this, Datawind, a Canadian company plans to introduce in India its netbook ‘Ubisurfer’ priced at Rs 7,999. UbiSurfer comes with in-built GPRS antenna, embedded SIM card, wireless LAN that delivers fast and easy internet access. It is developed using Datawind’s patented data compression / acceleration technology. 

“In India, mobile penetration is high compared to internet penetration. With new technology, we plan to take the experience of internet to the common man wherever mobile connectivity is available,” said Datawind Founder & CEO, Suneet Singh Tuli.
Datawind has partnered with Tata Teleservices for internet services. The customer will get pre-loaded Tata Indicom CDMA SIM with Ubisurfer, through which users can access internet. The company offers free internet access to about 30 hours a month for users and provides an option of unlimited internet access at a minimum price of Rs 99 a month.
“In India, we see huge opportunity in education, health sector, but our target is to bring computing to the ‘aam aadmi’,” Tuli added.UbiSurfer comes with Linux and Windows operating systems and pre-loaded applications like calendar, media player, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF viewer, email, paint and games.

Tuli said, “the product was launched only in second week of June” and they are optimistic on the response. The company has identified channel partners to introduce the product in the market. It has launched the business model in countries such as the UK, Germany and Australia and in the US by September, this year.
DH News Service