Buoyed by the success of tablet personal computers (PCs) in the Indian market, BSE-listed Smartlink Network Systems plans to launch a tablet PC in the domestic market in the next calendar year. “The tablet will be priced around Rs 5,000-Rs 7,800 against existing Apple iPad and Asus Eee Pad tablet that are priced in the range of over Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000,” KR Naik, executive chairman of Smartlink Network Systems told Financial Chronicle.

Naik said that the company would be purchasing chips and software for the tablet from US-based companies. “We will manufacture the tablet at our plant in Goa. It will have features like iPad,” he added. The Smartlink tablet is also expected to run Google’s Android platform, which is used in many existing tablets sold now. The tablet will be in 7-inch and 10-inch size. “The chip for the tablet will be designed as per our requirement,” said Naik.

According to Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT), the tablet PC market is estimated to be over Rs 1,000 crore by end of 2011-2012 and is expected to grow at 100 per cent per annum for the next three years. In 2010-2011, Apple, Samsung, Blackberry, HCL and Beetel Teletech together sold over one lakh tablet PCs. MAIT forecasts tablet PC sales to rise three fold to three lakh in the current financial year. Alok Bharadwaj, president of MAIT and senior VP, Canon India said, “The netbooks will disappear as tablet PC market is growing at fast pace.”

Bharadwaj said, entry level tablet PCs start at around Rs 7,000 and go up to Rs 40,000 but the maximum sales take place at the top end of the range.