Cheap-O Tablets and e-book readers showing up at Big Boxers--is the era of the e-book finally here?

Today I saw that fellow-gadgethound Mike Lee had posted a pic taken of a K-Mart weekly circular that featured, on sale for $149, an Android-powered 7 inch tablet.  The circular described it thusly:

“SALE Augen 7” tablet. Google Android OS. Read ebook. Watch a video and listen to music. Browse web. Wi-fi built in.

Sounds basic, but what’s interesting is that it’s available at K-Mart at all AND that it’s not a real name-brand tablet.  I was curious about the specs, so I tried finding it on K-Mart’s website.  Alas, I couldn’t find it, but did find this:



Yeah, that’s not the $149 Android-powered tablet mentioned in the K-Mart circular, but it is a cheaper Kindle clone.  It comes with 2GB storage and an SD slot, however.  If it weren’t for the lack of the e-Ink display and the color LCD that replaces it, I’d be curious if it would have better battery life.  However, the fact that this is an e-book reader available at K-Mart says something to me.

In the “also viewed” section I found a link to the ”Mach Speed Trio 8GB 4.3 in. Touchscreen Display Video MP3 Player” which isn’t a full-sized tablet, but does mention that it can read e-books. I also found the “Aluratek Libre eBook Reader PRO” which looks more like a Sony e-book reader clone.  The site lists no specs for it aside from the fact that it’s got an “e-paper” display (e-paper is the generic term for non-back-lit displays and has no direct connection to the proprietary “e-Ink” name).  The Aluratek Libre is available at K-Mart for $129.

The point here is that you’ve probably never heard of “Aluratek,” “Mach Speed” or “Augen” as brands, yet, here they are, listed on K-Mart’s website.  What I’m getting at here is that I think, now that we’re seeing low-end companies get onboard the e-book train, the e-Book Era has finally arrived.  Nope, it’s not about Apple or Amazon—the sure sign is when everyone can make a buck.

India One-Ups OLPC, Beats their $200 XO and their $99 tablet with a $35 iPad lookalike for 2011

A $35 Tablet? India Is On The Case

03:49 pm July 23, 2010 by Joshua Brockman AP

 

Kapil Sibal, India’s human resource development minister, displays the low-cost tablet that it hopes to put into production by next year.

Can you imagine a tablet computer priced less than the cost of a textbook?

It may soon be a reality. The Indian government unveiled a $35 prototype of a touch-screen tablet for students that could be a game changer in the consumer electronics world. That’s because it would be the world’s cheapest if it goes into production, according to the Guardian.

…

India’s human resource development minister, Kapil Sibal, said on Friday that the government is already in discussions with manufacturers to produce the device by 2011. He called the device India’s “answer to MIT’s $100 computer.”

via npr.org

Hm… this is an interesting development.

While it’d be great to get my hands on such a cheap tablet, one of the commenters on the NPR post makes a good point:

liam stockwell (liamaniac) wrote:

I can’t help but think it has the same, extremely detrimental draw-backs of every other sub-priced…anything. “Who is getting taken advantage of in order to produce this?”

Sat Jul 24 11:44:10 2010

I don’t mind spending a couple hundred on something like this as long as it’s got the same (or similar) specs as the iPad AND poor people in 3rd world countries aren’t exploited to death to bring me the damn device.

And I’ve heard/read a bit about what India is like and it worries me when I see electronics with this tiny-ass price point.  But hey, if they can produce it morally, I’d be happy to pick one up.  Maybe I can run Sugar on it! ;)