While most of the folks from the great (e)state of Andh(r)a Pradesh are fighting over splitting the state. Rohan Shravan a smart engineer and his company Notion Ink located at Hyderabad are working to create a tablet computer to compete with the likes of APPLE.
Yeah, you read it right it is “APPLE” like in the APPLE. 🙂 I have my own love-hate feelings towards APPLE products. The original iPod invented a new segment, but if you look at it now, its a dumb device that only does one thing , music. Macs are cool (I said cool but not productive) but pricey. APPLE TV is okay.

iPhone is probably the best device they ever made that converged the communications/web/games….. basically a ton of things. Overall I love APPLE for the simple fact that they make good stuff. They practically forced Google to start a mobile Operating System. Yup that tight APPLE control over everything they sell forced Google (which is another large tech predator) to compete with them. Don’t quote me on that, its just my theory. Few years back Google bought a company called Android that does Mobile operating systems. They made it open source so that folks can port it on any hardware that supports. Lets not get sidetracked with this Google-Apple battle and cut the chase. So this super engineer who started this company Notion Ink, is making a Android tablet that does everything the iPad does plus support the flash videos.

Which means the videos you see in BBC/CNN/CNBC/ABC/MSNBC/ and millions of websites can be viewed on this tablet without a hitch. The hardware on this gadget is solid. Using NVIDIA tegra chipset for graphics and dual code ARM Cortex -A9 for processing makes this probably the most powerful slate out there. The hardware specs in computer speak roughly translates to having a dual core processor with a dedicated video card. Plus it has a SD slot, USB, 3G and WiFi connectivity. I still do not know the full details about the team, who is behind it and how is the company funded. From the Rohan’s blog I could gather that they are in touch with multiple hardware folks (Foxconn who manufactures for APPLE) in Taiwan and China. But the simple fact that it is located in Hyderabad is enough for me to get goosebumps. I probably will buy this if the price range is below 500 bucks , heck I can even throw a thousand just to support the folks, my city and my state. Click on the Video and don’t forget to discuss it in the comments section.

Check the below posts at slashgear.
This quiet company (rather start up) displayed a tablet back in 2009 then showcased another demo of the improvised version early this month

Watch the video demo of it.

HERE IS THE WEBSITE FOR Notion Ink

Comparison with iPad Via Gizmodo

Good post From his blog on June 5 , 2009 which details the issues associated with setting startups in India.

“Signed 4 collaborations in 4 days. Pixel Qi, Inventec, Foxconn and Compalcomm in sequence. And there is yet 1 more day to go! So finally we saw how the screen would look like. Its really impressive and is exactly what we predicted in terms of the performance and quality. We love it. It will bring in a revolution in itself.

Most impressive meetings we had were with Pixel Qi and Foxconn. Pixel Qi has shown trust and confidence in our firm and its a huge moral boost for us. With their wisdom and experience coming into play, we can quite well deliver exactly what we want. Special thanks here goes to Mr John Ryan and Mr Frank Lee. We are young and can take more risks. If we are going to take 5 years before we succeed, then five years is a good experience. And if we are successful in our first attempt, it will definitely be because of the people who are providing us moral, mental and spiritual support using their hard earned experience and wisdom.
We will add more to this space in terms of the collaboration with Foxconn, Inventec and Compalcomm as the time unfold. All we can say here is, things as per now looks very exciting and promising in the near future. They are the biggest and we are the newest Kids around. We sure can rock.

On a odd note. It took us 3 months just to sign 2 NDAs in India. There is a huge difference when we see how things work out in India and here in Taiwan. For some reason things are not as mature for business as they are here. And it really burdens us with the work people in India has done since 1991 to make things at least this easy. We have just heard of stories of people waiting for even phone connections for years let alone signing a contract. I personally cannot imagine toil it will have on our ambitions if things were like pre-1990s. Though I wont deny there is a lot of work still to be done.

People in India need to understand that the world is moving really very fast. When we say India is 40 years behind USA and 20 years behind China, there are more reasons to it than just comparing the infrastructure. Its the complete environment. Complete eco-system which makes things easier for evolution of brilliant ideas and its implementation. Though we cannot measure creativity in time, but time does have its disintegrating effects. Ideas dont care in whose mind they are gonna land. If not India, then China.

May be we are on the course of making a history here. This is something never has been done by any Indian Company nor by any Indian. More than being personal ambition its a matter of national pride for us. Something which will stop the world say we are best at call centers and for maintaining web-sites, a 3rd end solution. We will make the world stand on its feet and give us the standing ovation we rightly deserve even for our ideas which have already changed the world, right from the zero to the concept of OOPs in computer programming.
When we pray, we only ask for one thing, ‘Make Our Faiths Firm’.

From Taipei, with Love!”