Bangalore-created Adam gets ready to take a bite of iPad

It’s a device that could well disrupt the PC tablet market. And it’s from India.

Bangalore-based Notion Ink has developed a slate with Android 2.2 Froyo operating system (OS) that could rival Apple’s iPad. The buzz about it began over a year back but the final countdown has just started.

The device, which would be launched as Adam, has caught the attention of bloggers and gizmo freaks, who are waiting with bated breath for its launch this December.

And the man behind the first Indian tablet — Rohan Shravan — has only been building expectations of those waiting for it with every post on his blog.

“One device, which can help many without telling them it’s helping. One device, which quietly slips into their lives and becomes their best friend. Their personal diary. The window to look at their kids out there in some unknown land. A device, just to realise dreams,” he wrote in one of his blogs, heightening the intrigue surrounding his tablet.

Going by whatever initial information is available, the tablet will come with 20 applications. These include email, calendar, office, paint, gallery, settings, file browser, and a special weather application that could act as a screen-saver.

It is expected to have better picture resolution and technical quality than most Android slates available in the market.
The tablet’s music player also has something called the thick state mode where songs can get minimised when music panel is hidden.

Shravan, who had till now been fiercely guarding the technical specs of his tablet, released some of them on his website last Thursday. A footnote at the end of it says, “Bonus mystery feature promises more.”

And the company is unveiling Adam bit by bit on its website everyday as the launch date draws near.

Talking about Adam’s birth, Shravan said: “Out of my college, and I wanted a device to browse internet everywhere, anytime. I wanted to read news, stay up to date with all possible RSS feeds. Read random books, manage my finances. Write blogs.”

He is now close to realising this vision. As announced earlier, Shravan said, the tablet will be launched simultaneously in all the markets by this year-end. 

“About to get FCC (certification) near Christmas and ready for launch,” he wrote back to DNA Money via email.   
Adam’s basic version will start at $399 in the US and vary in different countries based on the duty structure. iPad is priced at $499.

On whether the company would be able to stand up against the marketing muscle of Apple, he said; “Apple just crossed $20 billion, comparison would be definitely wrong.”

Notion Ink will manufacture the tablet itself. “We are pure OEM,” said Shravan. Though a number of partners are involved, “the cores are always in-house, like design marketing, strategy, development, etc.”   

For this, the company has entered into numerous collaborations.
Notion Ink recently signed four collaborations with Pixel Qi, Inventec, Foxconn and Compalcomm.

The company has got one round of funding but Shravan refused to disclose details.

Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst with Gartner Research, said Notion Ink may not be able to sustain the hype around Adam.
He also said its comparison with Apple would be unfair. “Devices of Apple —- iPad, iPhone and iPod —- are in a different category.

They cannot be pitted against other brands in their segments because of the aura that Apple has created around its products over the years. Even if a product is much superior or cheaper than Apple’s, people would still go for it only because of it’s Apple brand,” said Tripathi.