In a blog post written by Rebekah Ho, she explains the downsides of purchasing a $35 tablet sold in India by referring to our class discussion about the low-priced Tata Nano. Rebekah further explains that although these low prices might be tempting for consumers, their extremely cheap prices indicate that their quality is also extremely poor.
A student from India with the $35 tablet
I agree with this explanation because in order for a product to be priced so low but to still cover the producer’s cost of production, the supplier must have used very cheap inputs to create this $35 tablet. However, Rebekah beings to justify the uselessness of the cheap tablet in small villages in India, stating that with only a 3-hour battery life, the tablet can not always be used, which is something I disagree on. I disagree because many villages in India have never had these technological advancements so if the tablet does lasts for 3-hours it can get villagers connected onto the Internet, where farmers can check the weather or small businesses can have access to their email or to eBay. Therefore, I believe this innovation is useful in India even though the quality of the product may be very poor.