The Technograph

Emerging technologies provide a unique and important playing field, where even the smallest startups can compete with the big name companies; The most important qualities are creativity, persistence, and just a little bit of luck. For Notion Ink, a small startup out of Hyderabad India, their entrance into the emerging tablet field is as unique as their product itself.

Creativity is a quality that Notion Ink certianly has. In December 2009, their CEO Rohan Shravan revealed the Adam Tablet. The Adam Tablet features a Pixel Qi display, an innovative Dual-Mode screen which can be turned off almost entirely, using the light around it for luminence (While still being clear and readable). In addition, the Adam contains a swivel camera, to act as both front-facing, back-facing and everything-in-between. For those who need the numbers, it contains a Tegra 2, dual core 1ghz ARM, 10.1" multitouch screen, full USB ports, 3G/Wifi/GPS and a seriously cool back side trackpad. For those who don't need the numbers, here's the jist: It packs a punch.

Community is one term not normally associated with hardware startup companies, but we don't see why they can't be, and Notion Ink agrees. Their company blog, where the majority of posts are from their CEO, has garnered thousands and thousands of comments. More unusual, is that their CEO is active in the discussions: Many of the details for the tablet have changed, for the better, because of community discussions. Their choice to include Android on their tablet certainly lends itself to community as well.

Persistence happens to be a quality Notion Ink has been forced to have quite a bit of this year. Cool prototypes that get presented at an Expo have a long way to go before they hit the shelves in nice boxes at your local electronics store, and plenty can go wrong. This is especially true for small startups, most certainly for Notion Ink. Riding on the momentum of their strong demo at the beginning of the year, Notion Ink signed a deal with investors to get into production. As the story goes; after moving to Bangalore, completing the design and getting all set to begin production, their investors started suggesting they make bigger and bigger changes, at one point even suggesting converting the tablet into a netbook. As the debates heated up between the two, the investors cut Notion Ink's planned app competition, and started laying off Notion Ink's staff. Deals with their manufacturer went sour, and things looked bleak for the startup.

In June of this year, Notion Ink officially signed a deal with a new investor, got a new manufacturer lined up, and officially got back on track. Their tablet is set to come out late this November, so it remains to be seen if Notion Ink has the last quality they need for success, luck. However, it could not have come at a more crucial time, with several other big releases from major competitors due out around then. Whether Notion Ink emerges at the top, or finds its place elsewhere remains to be seen, but it's an innovative effort from an ambitious startup. That's what Technograph is all about.

Tagged with: notion ink, multitouch, tablet, adam, ipad