Bangalore

BANGALORE: The presence of Information Technology (IT) companies has a lot to do with the city’s IT status, but this cannot be the sole reason for the pseudonym. The fact that IT ideas mushroom here is a bigger factor and the same was justified when India got its very own ‘Desi’ Tablet device, from Namma Bengaluru.

BANGALORE: EAFT Technologies, a start-up based in Bangalore, has launched a tablet device-Magic Tile Marathon. Weighing in at less than a kilogram, the device which runs on Google's Android operating system is priced at Rs 29,990 and will compete in a market dominated by Apple's iPad.

A tablet is a computing device, which though smaller than a laptop, offers most of the features of a computer. The Marathon which is 3G enabled has coming with features such as USB and HDMI ports, 3G, 16 GB storage and high definition (HD) video playback.

The tablet wars in India are heating up with a slew of international companies such as Apple, HTC, Research in Motion, Dell, Acer and Lenovo launching devices here. Last year Olive Telecom launched its Olive Pad, which also runs on Android and has 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and is priced at a little over Rs 25,000.

Indian mobile handset makers too are set to enter the fray including Lava, Micromax and Zen who expect to capture market share by launching lower priced products. International Data Corporation (IDC) stated in a report that it expects Apple's iPad to maintain 70-80% worldwide market share this year.The product engineering company, EAFT, was founded in 2008 by Jitendhar G S and Giri Prathivadi, who were colleagues at Celstream and Hewlett-Packard. The Marathon has been launched with an initial production run of 10,000 tablets. While the product is available in Bangalore, the company is planning to expand distribution to Delhi and Mumbai soon.EAFT is also planning to launch three variants of the Marathon in the next few months. Nitin Khanapurkar, Executive Director (Advisory Services), KPMG, says price will be the key differentiator. Samsung's Galaxy Tab is at a comparable price range to EAFT's Marathon, he adds. Industry watchers say big brands will benefit from bigger marketing budgets compared with start-up manufacturers.Even the lower-end version of the iPad is available at a little over Rs 29,000.

The tablet is still a lifestyle product. A person willing to pay this price will shell out more for a brand like iPad, says Khanapurkar.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-07-13/news/29769244_1_samsung-s-galaxy-tab-tablet-ipad

Bangalore-based EAFT (Everything At Your Finger Tips), on Tuesday, launched ‘MAGICTILE’ line of Mobile Internet Devices(MID) ‘Marathon’, providing web and multimedia experience through its 3D User Interface.

It comes with built-in GPS, FULL HD(1080p Play back), Standard USB Ports and HDMI port which can connect to any standard LCD / Plasma Display and of course, built-in 3G (Quadband for worldwide portability).

The MagicTile “Marathon” is 10.1” high resolution MID powered by BEST Graphics & Mobile-Cum-Computing Technology from nVidia (Tegra Processor). It runs on ARM-11 Cortex-A9 1 GHz Dual Core Processor, Android 2.2 Operating System. MagicTile Marathon is targeted at corporates, professionals and business individuals and is priced at Rs 29,990.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/175702/eaft-unveils-magictile-marathon.html

BANGALORE: The presence of Information Technology (IT) companies has a lot to do with the city’s IT status, but this cannot be the sole reason for the pseudonym. The fact that IT ideas mushroom here is a bigger factor and the same was justified when India got its very own ‘Desi’ Tablet device, from Namma Bengaluru.

On Tuesday, city based EAFT technologies launched their ‘Magic Tile’ tablet called the ‘Marathon’. A big feat in itself, the makers of this device, a start up company, may actually have launched the Tablet revolution in the country even before the other major players in the market. “We had a soft launch of the product on March 18, 2010”, Jatinder G S, co-founder of the company said and shared that the concept was “Everything At Finger Tips”. But if anyone thought that the Tablet is an affluent device, then think again as many of the people in the city have already had a first hand experience with these hi-tech devices.

Nearly 25 Volvo buses plying from various locations towards the Bangalore International Airport (BIA) are fitted with the company’s creation. “As many as 700 such tablets have been installed in 25 buses of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)”, he pointed out.

The devices were installed on field trials and also to check for functioning under heat and vibration. He also shared that the same had been programmed to feature advertisements and also make other important commuter information and messages to the traveller. Many of these buses now ply from ITPL to the Kempe Gowda Bus stand as well.

But the version installed on the bus is a stripped down version of the actual tablet launched on Tuesday, Jatinder explained. The touch screen device on the buses were to ensure that commuters had access to the Wifi and other online requirements on their way to the airport, which was largely seen as a successful stint of the transport department. He shared that the technology was also being pursued by transport departments in the national capital as well.

Similar to what the “Tablet’ device itself hopes to achieve, EAFT are now flirting with ideas to serve the community as well. “We would explore options to put the product into use in the areas of education and health-care, on the same lines as transportation,” he said and added that they were developing digital signage as well.

“We are in talks with many distribution and retails houses to better market our product”, he said and shared that the ‘Marathon’ is now available online to customers.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/so-all-good-things-come-in-tablet-sizes/293939.html

‘Magictile-Marathon – targeted at young corporate professionals – runs on Android 2.2 Operating System, powered by Nvidia Tegra Processor.

BANGALORE, JULY 12: Entering the burgeoning tablet PC market in India, a little known Bangalore-based company has launched one of the lightest as well as one of the low priced home-grown tablet PC.

EAFT Technologies, which was funded by two angel investors and is set to get another round of funding from a VC, has launched a 700-gm tablet ‘Magictile-Marathon' . The tablet is priced at Rs 29,990 and is among the two lowest priced tablets in India.

“With these features, we expect to compete with market leaders like Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy,” said Mr Giri Prathivadi, CTO, EAFT Technologies, at a press conference here. The 10.1” tablet PC – targeted at young corporate professionals – runs on Android 2.2 Operating System, powered by Nvidia Tegra Processor.

All Marathon-users have access to over 70,000 Android-based applications, and EAFT has partnered with Giga Store for this. It has also partnered with Hungama for the entertainment content, and Vikas Publications and Cyber School for the educational content for the tablet PC.

“The market size is about 65 million tablet PCs and even if we get less than 1 per cent of the market share, we will to sell about half a million tablets in the next 18 months,” Mr Jaishiv Saxena, Director, EAFT Technologies, said. The company also plans to launch four other variants of the product over the next few months.

The company has been funded by Bangalore-based angel investors for the product, and is expecting a VC funding from a Bangalore-based company in about six months, the company's president, Mr Jitendhar. G.S. said, adding that it will come out with an IPO in three years.To test the product, the company had placed about 25 Marathon tablets in BMTC buses across, and “over a million people have touched, and used the tablet, and this has helped us improvise on the product” said Mr Saxena.

Keywords: EAFT Technologies, 700-gm tablet PC, Magictile-Marathon

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2221911.ece

Bangalore-based EAFT Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. launched the MagicTile Marathon on Tuesday, the latest addition to India’s domestically developed tablet space.

The company says the tablet comes with 3G connectivity, WiFi and Bluetooth, uses Android operating system 2.2 (also known as Froyo), and has an eight-hour continuous use battery life.

It has a 10.1″ LCD touchscreen display, a 1.0 Gigahertz processor and 512MB of RAM, which might appear low to users of regular PCs but is pretty standard for tablets. It has a microSD card slot for memory expansion but says storage maxes out at 16GB. The specifications say it also has a 1.3 megapixel camera.

Unlike the iPad, it has a USB port, an HDMI port for an external laptop or TV connection, and supports Flash 10.1.

EAFT’s App store, however, only offers 18 items, one of which is the periodical table of elements while another is an Indian festival calendar; but there are lots of apps out there for Android devices.

It is presently being sold at an introductory offer of 26,990 rupees ($600) but the regular price is 29,990 rupees, which is comparable to the price of the 16B, WiFi-only iPad2 in India.

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/07/13/marathon-a-new-home-grown-indian-tablet-pc/

Bangalore-based EAFT Technologies is set to launch the 'Marathon' tablet PC tomorrow. Priced at Rs 29,900, it sports a 10.1-inch screen and runs an Android (Version 2.2) operating system powered by an NVDIA Tegra2 chip. It also boasts of a USB and HDMI port (through which it can be connected to a television).

EAFT (Everything At Finger Tips) is a product engineering company. Last year, it introduced its 'MagicTile' mobile entertainment device that sports multiple connectivity options, an inbuilt global positioning system and HDMI output to enjoy movies on TVs. The company hopes ‘Marathon’ would complement its product line.

'Marathon' is not the last of the tablet PCs from the Indian stable. While Olive Telecom and even IT services company HCL Infosystems have already launched tablet PCs in the country, companies like Spice Telecom, Bharti Teletech, Micromax, Zen Mobile, Karbonn and Lava Mobiles appear keen to introduce their own tablet PC versions in the market soon.rnMarket research firm, CyberMedia Research expects the Indian tablet PC market to account for 100,000 tablet PCs or 0.1 per cent of the mobile market this year. Analysts say the need to hit the market with a tablet PC model has become critical for most mobile PC vendors.

Last year, wireless devices maker Olive Telecom unveiled a 3G tablet PC, OlivePad, which was priced at about Rs 25,000. Designed as a multi-functional device, OlivePad functions on Android operating system 2.2 and supports 3.5G HSUPA, Wi-Fi, and bluetooth. With an inbuilt 3-megapixel camera and a front camera, the OlivePad can be used for browsing, multimedia, instant messaging, social networking and also works as a smartphone, allowing voice and video calling, camera and smartphone. What sets it apart from established tablet PC devices like the Apple iPad is the fact that it supports flash and sports a mini USB port. Arun Khanna, chairman, Olive Telecom, had then asserted that USB tethering and portable Wi-Fi hotspot would distinguish the device from its competition. While tethering allows one to use the tablet as a modem when connected to a PC or a laptop through a USB cable, the Wi-Fi hotspot feature makes converts the tablet PC into a Wi-Fi router, so that OlivePad\'s 3G connection can be shared with multiple Wi-Fi devices.rnrnLava Mobiles would launch a seven-inch tablet for about Rs 18,000. It has even set up a team to develop India-specific applications. Zen Mobile too, is soon expected to add an Android-based 10-inch screen tablet PC, which would be priced at Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000.

HCL Infosystems has also decided to step into the market, with its Me tablet PC range that runs on the Android 2.2 operating system. The company has launched two different Me models—one with a seven-inch screen, another with a 10-inch screen. The tablets have the HCL Touch function, which allows users to access local content with the touch of a button. Taiwanese PC makers like MSI have also jumped into the tablet PC wagon with WindPad, which is priced at Rs 34,990. Manoj Kumar chief executive (consumer durables and electronics), Future Group, says, “MSI has launched the first tablet with Microsoft Windows exclusively at e-Zone, and we are sure the consumer will like it.” The WindPad 100W tablet PC features the Intel mobile platform processor, a 10.1-inch multipoint touchscreen, an SD card reader, USB 2.0 slots and a mini HDMI port.

Globally, the tablet PC market is dominated by established brands like US-based Apple Computers and South Korea-based Samsung. More recently, mobile device vendors like Motorola and HTC and PC makers like Research in Motion, Dell, Acer and Lenovo introduced tablet PC models in the domestic market. Although many analysts agree no product competes with the millions of tablet PC apps that Apple\'s iPad offers, Android\'s latest Gingerbread version made specifically for the tablet PC models has been well-received by tablet users.

Global trends, however, are different from those of the Indian tablet PC market, which is still in its infancy. Recent figures from research firm IDC say tablet shipments in the first quarter of 2011 fell 28 per cent sequentially to 7.2 million. This suggests the demand for tablet PCs may not be quite as high as it is thought to be. Apple iPad and iPad 2 continued to be the best sellers in the first quarter, but even Apple posted quarterly shipment numbers “well below expectations”. Android-based tablets, on the other hand, cashed in on Apple\'s woes, with the operating system\'s market share spiking 8.2 points sequentially to 34 per cent.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/homegrown-tablet-pcsthe-rise/442415/

One of the local player has hit the Indian market with its 10.1-inch Android tabletrnrnThe tablet market in India has got stiff competition now a days, with the launch of some excellent devices recently. In-fact, there are many to release some more in the near future, due to which it has become really hard to choose for the customers to choose from. And now an another tablet has been launched by EAFT Technologies, which is a Baglore based Indian company.

The local player has introduced a tablet dubbed as MagicTile-Marathon, which has a 10.1-inch display, NVIDIA Tegra 2 infused, and runs Android.

The latest tablet comes with fantastic features like full HD i.e. 1080p video playback and Flash 10.1 Support. The MagicTile have to compete with the tablets already present in the Indian market like Xoom, ICONIA A500 and even to the most famous iPad 2. rnrnThe new MagicTile has some major drawbacks and that are its bit limited internal storage, which is just 512MB for the OS and running apps, etc. Other than this the device is embedded with Android 2.2 Froyo, which is now considered as obsolete for the tablets and even its not upgradable.

EAFT’s Engineering Manager for the project, Pankaj Verma said on inclusion of Froyo instead of Honeycomb that it is a fact that this version has, so far, proven to be the most stable of the lot. But then why not even Gingerbread, as NVIDIA’s 1GHz Tegra2 processor is quite capable of handling it.

Well due to the lesser internal space it will automatically get it out of the race with the big players like Apple, Motorola, Acer or Samsung. It supports up to 16GB microSD card, so you can get external memory on the device but even that is limited to just 16GB. rnrnBesides, there is a USB port that allows you to attach a keyboard or mouse to it, which simply means the MagicTile has only FAT32 support and not NTFS for hard drives. The Marathon tablet also supports 3G connectivity, but unfortunately has no calling functionality, it is there particularly for data.

The company is offering MagicTile-Marathon tablet for Rs. 29,990 (MRP), which could be purchased at a special online price of Rs. 26,990, as it’s only just been launched. If you want to know more and buy this tablet then click here.rnrnMore On Indian company EAFT launches Android tablet

http://news.in.msn.com/technology/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5289724

Bangalore-based EAFT Technologies has launched the 'Marathon' tablet PC.rnPriced at Rs 29,900, it sports a 10.1-inch screen and runs an Android (Version 2.2) operating system powered by an NVDIA Tegra2 chip.

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-tablet-pcs-from-indian-companies/20110714.htm

EAFT technologies challenges the iconic iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab with its Marathon tablet devicernBy Ruchika Mehta, 14 Jul 2011 at 07:00rnBangalore-based start up EAFT technologies has launched a new tablet device, Magic Tile Marathon, which boasts of a 3D user interface and offers superior multimedia experience with a built-in Flash 10.1. Jitendhar GS and Giri Prathivadi, who were colleagues at Celstream and Hewlett-Packard, founded this product engineering company in 2008.

Unlike the iPad 2, this new home-developed tablet comes with standard USB ports and HDMI port, which facilitates the tablet to be connected to any standard LCD/Plasma display. Powered by Nvidia Tegra ARM-11 Cortex-A9 1 GHz dual core processor, the MagicTile poses a large 10.1 multi-touch capacitive display with 1024X600 resolution, delivering the best viewing and browser experience.

Built-in flash 10.1 support makes it the most versatile mobile Internet device, which can play YouTube content through the browser directly.

In the meanwhile, EAFT has tied up with India's Hungama, a content aggregator, for easy and free access to both Bollywood and regional content, loads of music and film. For the education field, the company has tied-up with India's largest educational content house, Vikas Publications, and Cyber School.rnrnThe tablet war in India is heating up with a slew of international companies such as Apple, HTC, Research in Motion, Dell, Acer and Lenovo launching devices here. Last year, Olive Telecom launched Olive Pad, which also runs on Android and has 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The Marathon has been launched with an initial production run of 10,000 tablets. It is available in Bangalore and there are plans to take it to Delhi and Mumbai soon. EAFT plans three more variants of the Marathon in the next few months.

Analysts reports says Marathon's Android OS could have an advantage as it gives users access to the whole spectrum of Android's apps. EAFT claims its users will have access to over 70,000 apps and 30,000 e-books. According to a Gartner report, apps generated $5.2 billion in revenue in 2010.rnrnThe 16 GB Marathon tablet is, however, priced at Rs 29,990, which is comparable with Apple's iPad 2 or the latest Samsung's Galaxy Tab. As per a recent IDC report, 21 million tablets will be sold in 2015 in the Asia Pacific region, which includes India, compared to the 2 million units shipped in 2010.rn

Kannada Prabha - Date : 13th July 2011, Page 04

Vijay Karnataka - Date : 14th July 2011, Page 14

Prajavani - Date : 13th July 2011, Page 4