Taking on the Goliaths

To design devices which will enable people to realize their dreams, and
I believe in scale and volumes and bringing the exact differentiations
out. Convergence  excites me and I will constantly be working
towards the same. Adam is my brainchild and it's just one of the first
few devices I want to realize,”-Rohan Shravan, founding director and
CEO, Notion Ink.

This in a way sums up the passion behind India's very own tablet PC,
Adam, developed by Notion Ink, and touted as the iPad killer. Over the
last 1 year, enough hype has been built on this Android based tablet PC
that made headlines globally. The Android 2.3 based tablet globally
launched in mid December 2010, has got

rave reviews in the just concluded mother of all tech shows-the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 at Las Vegas. As per the company's
website, whatever pre-orders it opened have been sold, so new buyers
need to wait for a while until the company takes fresh bookings.
However, there remains an element of secrecy on total booking numbers
and their manufacturing details. According to sources of the total
pre-order bookings-60% was from US, 20% from Europe, and 10% from India.



What is Adam?

“Adam is a platform, not a product. Adam is already second generation
whereas all others are first generation. For instance even from
hardware and software point of view, Adam distinguishes itself. In
design, it is the only one which does not look like an iPad copy, and
most importantly Adam has the support of a big family of people who are
not only supporting it, but also helping Adam become mature,” says
Rohan Shravan, founding director and CEO, Notion Ink, in an email
interview

with Dataquest.



At the heart of the Adam tablet is the powerful 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 250
chip, that is dual core. In terms of software, it runs on Android 2.3
also know as Gingerbread. The interface in Adam is called 'Eden' and is
mostly separate from the Android, facilitating upgrades to the next
version of Android. With Google already announcing Android 3.0
(Honeycomb)-an OS made for tablets, and hence Adam has to depend on its
app store called Genesis until Google opens up the Android app market
place for Honeycomb based tablets. Says  Shravan, “The Adam tablet
is indeed one-of-its-kind in the market, the biggest differentiator is
its ability to multitask. You are no longer stuck with just 1 app
running on your tablet.” Yet another first of its kind innovation is
the incorporation of Pixel Qi in the high-end models. This implies that
the user gets amazingly sharp and crisp display even outdoors and
extended battery life, with the company claiming a battery life of more
than 12 plus hours. Adam comes in normal LCD version too, giving a
choice to the buyers.



The Potential

Without doubt, Adam is an amazing tablet. The leading technology
analysts from leading technology media portals have given thumbs up for
its performance and the

capabilities of this device. But despite that since the launch of
Adam's prototype in CES 2010 last year, Notion Ink has not shared much
information about the tablet

until its launch last month. Being a startup and fighting behemoths
like Apple (iPad) and Samsung (Galaxy Tab) is indeed an uphill task.
But many feel that being overly secretive, the company has adopted a
risky strategy of keeping the buyers guessing and clearly too much
guessing leads to unwarranted criticism. Cleary, Adam is a case of
superior product and lackluster marketing so far. The only hype from a
marketing perspective the company has so far created is the 'sold out'
playcard in their website. But many marketers feel that it is not
enough. Adam promoters need to come out in the open and address a broad
range of questions relating to the product.



Post CES 2011-with the product being seen globally-it has put to rest
that Adam is no longer a prototype. But what is not yet clear is that
when will the new bookings start, and the ability of the company to
ramp up production and cash in on the initial enthusiasm before the
competition catches up. Google has announced its dedicated tablet
OS-Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)- that will be launched soon and Adam is
based on Android 2.3, so what plans does Notion Ink has once Android
3.0 hits the market? Says Shravan, “At CES, we learnt about Honeycomb.
At Notion Ink, we were aware of this project and could guess what
modules

were being improved. As such there are no official (as per our record
and few online sources) and no hardware restrictions, and when
Honeycomb is available, we will send updates as soon as possible.” With
Adam finally out in the market, the bunch of young IIT alumni who have
floated Notion Ink, have proved that a small startup can indeed
generate huge interest and compete with the likes of iPad. Many feel
that huge initial responses, both critical and positive will only help
the company as well as the product to mature. Now that the initial hype
has died down and the buyers are looking at the touch and feel of the
product, Notion

Ink has a laborious task at hand. All the pre-orders need to be
delivered, and it needs to put in place a proactive supply chain system
that can ensure that the products are shipped as promised.



From an India perspective, if this product lives up to its expectations
it can alter the mobile PC landscape. It is rightly priced, base
version starts at $375 and goes up to $550 for the Pixel Qi, Wi-Fi, and
3G. With the product hitting the market, Notion Ink can no longer rely
on the

word-of-mouth publicity and blogs to popularize Adam. It needs to
project Adam as a mass market product. Being a startup with not so deep
pockets, the post—launch phase would indeed be challenging to the
company. And one only hopes that Notion Ink puts in place a practical
yet effective marketing strategy that can make it an iPad killer in
real sense. Notwithstanding its mass success, Notion Ink and Rohan
Shravan need to be commended for coming out with such a tablet form
factor, and significantly elevating its power performance paradigm and
taking it to new heights.