ATab tablet for Rs. 5,000 to be available from this month.

Looks like the low cost, affordable tablet segment in the country will have to make some more place, as the market continues to get populated with more entrants - some known, others new. Now, AcrossWorld Education, the global SaaS company have introduced ATab to the Indian market, in partnership with Delhi-based Go-Tech, with an aim to get quality educational content to the schools and colleges in the country. The ATab is an Android tablet, sporting a 7-inch, advanced touchscreen display and will cost Rs. 5,000. The ATab will be available in India from the second week of March. Some other features of the ATab include, 1.1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 2GB inbuilt memory expandable up to 16 GB, Wi-Fi and an external 3G USB Dongle.

Now for the best part. In its feature list, the ATab mentions that it comes with Education Bridge, which essentially is a "revolutionary education technology platform" by one of its makers, AcrossWorld Education. Those buying the ATab tablet will receive a three-year free and unlimited access to Education Bridge. The tool, according to the official statement "allows academic institutions, teachers and students to use a variety of content elements including Open Content, Open Educational Resources, Legacy Content and proprietary content sources to connect, collaborate, and innovate. It also includes professional services for deployment and training schools and colleges on using EducationBridgeTM to leverage premium global educational content."

Interestingly, several schools and colleges based across cities, like Delhi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Rourkela and Gaujarala have expressed their keen interest on the yet-to-be-released ATab. The following schools have already tied-up with AcrossWorld Education - Carmel Public School, Gaujrala; Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Institute of Technology, Rourkela; Shikhar Shishu Sadan Convent School, Dhampur; and, Gandhinagar Public School, Moradabad.

In his statement, Dr. Stephan Thieringer, President and CEO of AcrossWorld stated, “Open Source is the future of education. With the availability of ATab, Indian schools will be able to discover and leverage world-class educational content at their fingertips at the K-12 level itself as well as at the college and University level. It is very timely and appropriate that India schools and colleges alike seriously explore advanced technology solutions that provide instant access to the world’s best educational resources , especially now within an affordable budget.”

In its initial launch phase, roughly 10,000 units of the ATab tablet will be introduced to the market; and this number will be taken higher, gradually. Enthusiasts in India should expect the tablets to surface around the second week of this month. The tablets, according to the official statement will come in several colours to appeal to the youth.