[caption id="attachment_7843" align="alignright" width="300"] Aakash 2 Tablet[/caption]

Reminiscent of the $35 Raspberry Pi Linux computer, the Datawind Aakash 2 tablets are targeted toward educational users, and subsidized by India's government in order to provide their students with $35-USD tablets. Three-million of those version two tablets have already been pre-ordered according to statements made by the company to Tech2.in.com., and referred to by MicroFinanceMonitor.com.

The Aakash version one ran into a series of production problems, delays, and a series of staggered release dates in 2011; and failed to reach the hands of hundreds of thousands of India's students for whom it had been planned.

India's government is now subsidizing version two. Additionally a series of four commercial versions are planned under the name UbiSlate tablets, but Datawind has not announced any precise release dates.

Aakash 2 is starting to look like an instant replay of version one. Tech2.in.com is a website that covers "Technology News, Analysis, Reviews" in India, with a mailing address in Mumbai. For a real understanding of what local consumers have encountered in India one would do well to read the news article, "Did you pay for an Aakash tablet? Here's the inconvenient truth" published on the Tech2 site.

The article mentions numerous consumer issues, and gives specific order booking numbers to validate their report. The common elements are consumers who pre-paid for tablets months ago, and have received broken promises followed by silence when attempting to get refunds.

Assessment

UbiSlate.com has posted a statement from the company's CEO which says in part: "I'm pleased to report that deliveries have started! Although thousands of units are being delivered daily, the demand and backlog is very significant. Customers that have pre-paid are given priority. The backlog of pre-paid customers will be caught-up by the end of this month."

There is no date posted with that statement. If one assumes the best, that the statement was posted in this month of September, it is clear that a backlog approaching or exceeding three-million units will not be delivered in the next nine days. "Thousands of units" are a tiny percentage of three-million.

A well known adage says: "You get what you pay for." In this particular case, millions of people in India have not even received that much, as of mid September 2012.