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Simmtronics' $81 XPad debuts, winning the race to the bottom
The marketplace is flooded with cheap tablets at this point. Some of them quite impressive, others are likely to make your tear your hair out. We think its safe to say that Simmtronics XPad will fall firmly in the latter category but, being a high-end pixel-pushing machine isn't the point. The XPad is a highly customizable Android slate designed to be as affordable as possible. The Indian company took the wraps off the product line in Dubai this week, revealing a 7-inch A8-powered machine that puts Ice Cream Sandwich in the palm of your hand for only AED299, or about $81. The company even claimed it could push prices down to about $40, which would make it even more affordable than the elusive Aakash. The race to the bottom isn't over just yet, but it seems like Simmtronics is now the company to beat.
Simmtronics, IBM and Canonical bring $190 Simmbook to emerging markets
Simmtronics' Simmbook netbook has been floating around for a few months now, but it's just gotten a considerable boost thanks to a partnership with IBM and Canonical, who have teamed up with the company in an effort to bring the netbook to emerging markets. That confluence of companies means the netbook will run on Ubuntu Netbook Remix and come pre-loaded with IBM's Client for Smart Work, which includes Lotus Symphony and access to various cloud-based services. As for the netbook itself, it's about as basic as you might expect, including the usual 10-inch display, Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, three-cell battery, and a 160GB hard drive (with a few upgrades available). Then again, it is available off-the-shelf for just $190 right now, and IBM and Simmtronics are apparently working with various clients to offer the netbook at "a competitive price" to other countries around the world.
