Before the onset of the world’s cheapest tablet Aakash, tablets were targeting only the busy executives of corporate sector. Aakash also triggered a spate of other budgeted tablets by different manufacturers.

Aakash and other types of cheap tablet is fast metamorphosing itself into an essential tool for students. Buoyed by increasing demand in the education sector, scores of vendors have launched tablets targeting students over the last one year. The latest entrants: Micromax and HCL Infosystem.

Micromax unveiled its tablet PC called Funbook, it is priced at Rs 6,499. The launch comes just a day after HCL Infosytem introduced its MyEdu Tab (priced at Rs 9,999).

According to CyberMedia Research, India saw sales of about 475,000 units of media tablets in the last calendar year. Report from research firm Frost & Sullivan says the tablet PC user base in India has increased from 60,000 units in 2010 to 300,000 in 2011. It added that the overall tablet PC user base is likely to grow at a CAGR of 107 per cent to reach 23.38 million by 2017.

The Indian market has become very competitive in the five quarters since 4Q of 2010, when Samsung introduced the first tablet model in the country. Then, the launch of Aakash tablets and the initial response its commercial launch last year received has encouraged other vendors to tap the market.