India's Tablet Fever
While Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung Corp. have had their products in Indian stores for some months, High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (Taiwan: 2498) and BlackBerry have just launched their high-end tablets in India. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , meanwhile, is set to launch its MediaPad in the coming weeks. (See HTC Unveils High-Priced 'Flyer' Tablet, RIM's Playbook to Hit India Next Week and Huawei To Launch Tablets in Q3.)
In addition, local players such as Micromax Informatics Ltd. and Lava International Ltd. are preparing to enter India's tablet market with more affordable products. (See Tablet Vendors Eye India Opportunity.)
India's best-known tablet-maker isn't concentrating on its home market just yet, though. Notion Ink Design Labs Pvt. Ltd. has made an impact on the international tablet market in the past year or two with its Adam product, and now the company's founder and CEO Rohan Shravan tells Light Reading India, the next version of that product, Adam 2, is set to be launched before the 2012 CES show. (See Notion Ink Readies Adam 2 for December.)
Notion Ink's assault on its domestic market will have to wait. In his extensive interview with our new sister website, Shravan notes that India's tablet market will take off once there is more local content available, and that Notion Ink's strategy for India is "different" and "will take time to evolve and mature." (See Rohan Shravan: CEO, Notion Ink.)
— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading
I agree local content is extremely important to the growth of tablet market in India. Besides that the local vendors will bring down the prices fuelling the growth. Bundling of services with devices should also fuel competition and lead to further reduction in prices and thus making it a mass market product. However, what kind of content and applications will appeal to the Indian market remains to be seen...