Updated on: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A Pakistani software company and its mobile applications subsidiary have offered to add value to the low-cost PC tablet, ‘Aakash', launched by India last week in the spirit of “friendship and cooperation in South Asia” that would make the device more useful and effective for end users.
Unveiling their plans soon after Aakash was launched, FiveRivers Technologies and Pepper.pk — both Lahore-based companies — said once the tablet hits the markets as scheduled in November, Pepper.pk would begin porting a relevant subset of its over 150 applications to the new platform.
According to a release put out by the two companies, Pepper.pk's portfolio of applications includes three world No. 1 titles including the four-time AppWorld No. 1 app, Photo Editor. The company's apps are available across several major mobile platforms including iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry phones and BlackBerry PlayBook, Windows Phone 7, Android and Nokia.
Congratulating “our friends in India” on the launch of the tablet, co-founder of Pepper.pk, Mahe Zehra Husain, said: “We are announcing our effort to add value to Aakash and enrich it with our leading software products. Information Technology is critical to both our countries as it can be a powerful force to reduce poverty and eliminate illiteracy.''
Though the Indian response is unclear, the website of FiveRivers Technologies offers a link titled “Aakaash Tablet'' that includes an audio-visual capsule dedicated to this offer of cross-border collaboration.