Apple founder Steve Jobs may have passed away, but the technological legacy he left behind continues to live on as consumers purchase iMacs, iPods, iPhones and iPads the company manufactures.

The devices, said to have changed the way the world plays, communicates and shops, have led other tech firms to come up with similar gadgets with features and prices that rival the original.

One such device that came out in the market on Thursday is a $50 table computer called Aakash, obviously inspired by Apple's iPad.

Dubbed as the world's cheapest computer, it would beat the newly launched Kindle Fire at $199 and could buy 10 pieces of the iPad 2 which sells for $499.

According to India's Education Minister Kapil Sibal, the very low price is due to the barebones feature of the tablet intended to be sold to poor Indian students who could not afford Apple's or even Kindle's price tag, but would still offer Internet connection.

The tablets were designed by DataWind, a London-based firm which employs 65 engineers at its Montreal office. The device will be sold to Indian students at the subsidised price of $35 and later in Indian retail shops at $60.

"The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aaskash will end that digital divide," The Gazette quoted Mr Sibal.

Askash means sky in the Hindi language. DataWind conceived and designed the touchscreen device in its Montreal office and subcontracted the assembly in India.

The initial 100,000 units will be given free to Indian students; the first 500 units were handed out at the device's launch. The Askash runs on Android operating system and supports video conferencing. It has two USB ports and a battery that runs for three hours, uses an ARM 11 processor and delivers HD-quality video.

DataWind Chief Operating Office Suneet Tuli acknowledged the $50 tablet computer is miles away from Apple's iPad, but could stand side by side with Kindle's new device.

"If you spent the last two years on an iPad, you won't want to work with this, but if this is one of your first Internet or tablet experiences, we think you'll be impressed," Mr Tuli told The Gazette.

Although the number of Internet users in India has grown 15 times from 2000 to 2010, only 8 per cent of Indians have access to Internet, which pales in comparison to the 40 per cent Internet penetration rate in China.

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