We’re all proud of the Indian tech startup – Notion Ink – and its Adam tablet. Competing against the Californian giant, Apple, and its now wildly successful iPad was never going to be a simple feat, but the brilliantly specced Adam gave the critics pause, realising that it indeed was a serious contender in the global tablet market, and one of Android’s major hopes in the segment. Unfortunately, the Adam was a little too slow out of the stables, facing delays with Flash and Nvidia Tegra 2 issues, and let the iPad take a massive lead in the race.
Currently headquartered in Bangalore, Notion Ink was established in Hyderabad in May 2009, with the sole purpose of creating Adam. Digit’s Nash David recently spoke with Notion Ink’s founder and CEO, Rohan Shravan, and learnt much about how the company managed to develop a cutting edge tablet like the Adam in the Indian environment, and the many challenges they faced here. Their perspective is certainly unique, gained trying to make a place in the almost non-existent Indian computer hardware industry, which unlike China is still unable to pull off cheap manufacturing due to its lack of the necessary infrastructure, incentives and skilled labour. These problems are unfortunately symptomatic of the absence of focussed vision from the Indian government, which metaphorically but undeniably, is unable to provide the oxygen for the acetylene torch of hardware development. Active, well-planned steps are now the order of the day, supporting and nourishing the nascent industry.
Though he maintained the current environment was infinitely better than back in the 90s, Shravan made it clear that mindsets still need to change before the ecosystem will improve, “especially on the product side”. Painting a vivid picture of the Indian scenario, Shravan said:
“Everyone says, India needs to manufacture, but when it actually comes to it, they back off. Manufacturing is too costly, too expensive, and too risky. It’s extremely difficult for a start-up to raise funds in consumer electronics space. Consumer electronics move very fast, if one has idea, the time to implement and gain market is so very small, and all the time in Indian environment would be spent in conveying the differentiation, which is again tough given the awareness for quality products and a decade of delay in technology adoption…”
Revealing that the Adam has been in development for nearly three years now, Shravan also spoke about how expensive it was finding the resources to develop hardware and software for Android within India. Instead, Notion Ink took an innovative step to jumpstart indigenous development, training students of engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh:
“We take care of their courses, examination preparation and in return we get complete infrastructure. It’s a win win. We get virtually free resources that we trained (in far better industrial standards) the way we wanted (with friends working in Infosys, Accenture, Oracle and likes) and college gets the far superior education for their students, visibility and latest technology!”
After all this preparation, if you are wondering where the Notion Ink Adam tablet is, and when it will finally come out, you are not alone. But we won’t have to wait much longer, for the Adam is on its way, and will arrive by around November. We also learnt that Notion Ink has other tablets up its sleeve, as well as “an accompanying device which has a smaller form factor (and can act as a phone as well)”. Things are certainly looking up for India now, with path-breakers like Notion Ink stirring up the ranks.
You can find our interview with Notion Ink’sRohan Shravan in its entirety on the next page, where he spoke with Digit’s Nash David about the various challenges faced by the company, as well as the genesis, vision and future of Notion Ink…
Digit’s Nash David caught up with Notion Ink’s CEO, Rohan Shravan, and spoke about the genesis of the company, the development of the Adam tablet with reference to the Indian environment, and much more….
Tell us about the team behind Notion Ink.
It all started when I was a kid. The ideas slowly took shape and then the physical form. I shared the idea with lots of people. Everyone got excited when they heard about it, but when it came about to implementing it, most of them stepped back. The few that remained were the ones who were destined to take Notion Ink to the next steps. (I will not be going into the personal details of the people who are involved)
How did you come together to form the team?
As I said, I shared the ideas with lots of people. Some took it to be too insane to even think about for more than a day, some liked to just listen, some wanted to be a part only if there are few changes incorporated. The team grew from 1 to 4, then from 5 to 3, then from 3 to 7, then from 7 to 3, and finally stabilizing to 6. In the overall journey, myself, Rohit and Sachin have always stuck together. Rohit is my college friend as well and is the key at Notion Ink. I am a little aggressive, and he pulls me back from insanity.
How encouraging has the environment in India been? What were the challenges you have faced in getting the product across?
Before saying anything bad about the environment, I must say, it is exponentially better than 1990. I have only heard about those times. The ecosystem is improving, but the mindset has to change. Specially on the product side. Everyone will say, India needs to manufacture, but when it actually comes to it, they back off. Manufacturing is too costly, too expensive, and too risky. It’s extremely difficult for a start-up to raise funds in consumer electronics space. Consumer electronics move very fast, if one has an idea, the time to implement and gain market is so very small, and all the time in Indian environment would be spent in conveying the differentiation, which is again tough given the awareness for quality products and a decade of delay in technology adoption. Next is a kind of cliché, but is there, and it’s the age factor. The young vs. the grey hair fight, the gut vs. the experience and the one between ignorance and defensiveness. One has to find a perfect synergy between all these.
How long did it take you to develop the Adam?
Around 3 years. And believe me, the technology isn’t still there to achieve what we want to do, and that’s why we are not a one product company. There are series of devices coming after Adam.
I read a quote of yours somewhere where you talked about high charges for Android resources. You can highlight the cost-factor in your answer to this question. Tell us how you overcame the need to hire companies to do your development work.
Yes, the industry experience comes at a cost, and definitely the so very well doing Software Giants wouldn’t find starts-up in India to give services too. And that’s logical as well, cash isn’t there, future is uncertain, and competition for foreign market is breath-taking! We talked to 4 big players, and the average cost is around 1lac per resource. (And well they pay some 16k per resource).
But we learned something here, it’s the training which they have provided to these people which is costing this much, and then came the idea. We decided to talk to colleges in AP to get in a different association (IITs won’t agree to one like this) where we train their students, 24×7, no college, we take care of their courses, examination preparation and in return we get complete infrastructure. It’s a win win. We get virtually free resources that we trained (in far better industrial standards) the way we wanted (with friends working in Infosys, Accenture, Oracle and likes) and college gets the far superior education for their students, visibility and latest technology!
Tell us how you named the product Notion Ink.
The first step one has to take to convert one’s dream into a reality is to write it down somewhere. That’s really very important, because from nowhere, it’s right there in front of you, convincing you that after few steps it will be real. We want to be that exact enabler which help people ink their notions into reality, and that’s why we named it Notion Ink.
When are you looking at launching the product in India?
There are major upgrades on the OS side. We are competing in a global market, and quality is of extreme essence to us. We are spending a lot in RnD and we are developing the right ecosystem till then.
What product categories do you plan on carrying out work on in the future?
Tablets and an accompanying device which has a smaller form factor (and can act as a phone as well), apart from beautiful accessories.