Reliance Industries to pick up stake in Notion Ink Adam Tablet : RIL + Adam Tablet == ATT + Apple iPad ??

By Manoj Govindassamy on 23 July, 2010, 2:03 pm

Indian tech space is brimming with interesting developments and one of the latest deals is akin to ones in the western market. It is heard Reliance Industries is picking up a majority stake in the home grown tablet company, Notion Ink.

Oooh! The oil baron investing in tech space ?? We did not see Reliance Industries making inroads to tech space in the past, but things are changing fast. While Anil Ambani owned Reliance Group ADAG has businesses in all segments of media, tech and entertainment, Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries never ventured in to these segments. Thanks to the recent truce flag hoisted between the brothers, Reliace Industries is making some fast paced movements in the telecom, teach and related fields.

Hyderabad based Notion Ink which is developing a tablet computer (read it as India’s iPad) has already gathered enough media attention, for being one of the foremost tablet computer manufacturers in the country. Notion Ink’s Adam Tablet brings in best of the tech available in the world right now. These tablets are built on nVidia’s Tegra 2 chip and PixelQi screen. So, Adam Tablets have longer battery life and the device is readable even under the Sun and are technically highly advanced than Apple’s iPad. For more tech details on Adam Tablet, read on our previous articles.

Ok, Adam Tablet is cool, but why should Reliance Industries pick up a stake and invest heavily in it ? Is it betting on Tablet market in India ? Well, IMHO, Reliance Industries is getting ready for a big game in the country. Here are our reasonings ..

1. Telecom startup Infotel won pan india wireless broadband license for a whopping 12,847 crores. Of course Reliance Industries was behind the screen funding the bidding process.

2. Soon after truce treaty between Ambani brothers, Reliance Industries was allowed to venture into telecom space. Immediately, Reliance Industries bought 95% stake in Infotel which just won the wireless broadband license.

3. Apple iPad sold over 3 million devices in less than 3 months and brought millions in profit. If we were to go by this tech trend, tablet market should pick up sooner in India. And, Adam tablet is the only major tablet device in the country now. Also, it would be priced well lower than Apple iPads and are technically advanced too. So, Adam tablets should be a killer device.

4. And, Adam Tablet is more a web device which needs a DATA plan for a complete entertainment experience. DATA plans can be either from EDGE networks (which are way slower and are outdated) or from a 3G network (Airtel, Vodafone, RComm have 3G licenses ) or from a WIFI (limited area scope) or from Wireless Broadband.

Yep, DATA is sweet spot for Reliance Industries now. It has pan India Wireless broadband license and is aggressively rolling out infrastructure works and the service should be available sooner. So, by picking up a stake in Adam Tablet, it can ship in the Reliance DATA plan contract with the devices, by default. So, Reliance Industries buying Notion Ink Adam Tablet is more like building the customer base.

This reminds me of the services available in the US market, where mobile phones are mostly sold with a telecom operator contract plans. Just like, Apple iPhones and iPads have AT&T contract plans. So,

RIL + Adam Tablet == ATT + Apple iPad ??

Can Reliance Industries repeat Apple iPad magic in the India region with its Adam Tablet and the newly acquired pan India Wireless Broadband license ?

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