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The Inye Tablet: a second product from Africa to rival the iPad
The Inye Tablet. PHOTO/CNN
Saheed Adepoju of Nigeria has unveiled the Inye this week, a tablet computer designed to be second answer from Africa to the iPad.
Adepoju, 29, has designed a cheaper alternative to western tablet computers to appeal to an African audience, which wish to browse the internet on a lower cost device.
The key selling point of the Inye tablet (which runs on the Android operating system) is its low price: US$350, which is half the price of an iPad, which retails at around US$700.
Adepoju is planning to sell his device to the Nigeria government.
At 8 inches, the device is half-way in size between a laptop and a mobile phone.
“The Inye is a mobile internet device. It gives you access to the internet; it allows you to play media files and watch movies”, Adepoju told the BBC. “You have the standard software applications that come pre-installed and then you have the ones that we are working with various local developers to bundle on.”
The Inye tablet joins a similar release from Congo in January this year, from Congolese inventor Verone Mankou.
(More: The Way-C Tablet: Africa’s tablet set to rival the iPad)
The “Way-C” tablet was invented in Congo by 26 year old Mankou, under his company VMK. The device is designed to bring the internet to as many people as possible.