It has already caught the attention of the world after being unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Hyderabad-based start-up Notion Ink, Rohan’s company, plans to launch Adam in the market later this year. It will have better features, a longer battery life and will come at a cheaper price than other PCs of its ilk.
Rohan, a whizkid with out-of-the-box ideas, always wanted to do something different. As a child, he loved to fiddle with toys and make his own models. As a techie, he still does the same, but on a higher plane. What motivated him in this instance was the craving for a device that would help him browse the Internet everywhere, anytime.
“So I thought why not a device on which people can use their imagination and develop applications. It took us three years to design Adam,” says Rohan.
He worked on this dream along with five IIT-ians and a management graduate — Rohit Rathi, (co-founder) Sachin Ralhan (co-founder), Mohit Gupta, Anirudh Gupta, Rajat Sahni, and Devanshu Agrawal. The result of the teamwork was Adam.
As the name signifies, it is the first of its kind. The operating system will be open to all. The user interface, the backside track pad, the special Tegra processor, the special never seen before e-mail application, and the swivel camera are all rather unique and will have tech lovers drooling.
“It is not comparable to already existing products in the markets,” says Rohan modestly. “You can probably compare it to the next generation of devices which will hit markets in 2012.”
“Initially, in India people took us lightly, but when they saw the western reception, they suddenly warmed up,” laughs Rohan.
There was also carping and criticism. The team was called a bunch of kids with wild ideas. When Adam made a stir, there were other complaints. “Many criticised us for naming the product Adam and not choosing an Indian name,” he points out. “But tell me which is the Indian name among these? Reliance, Infosys...?”
Notion Ink was part of Rohan’s dream to do his own thing. “I can work for others, but I will not be satisfied,” he says. “Here, I can work for my dreams and employ people. My mother was also an entrepreneur.”
Interestingly, Rohan says his IIT days were not inspiring. “The best college in India is not what it looks like in papers,” he says. “It lacks infrastructure and professors leave for better colleges. I had to cut off myself from daily activities at IIT to follow my ambition.”
He is enthusiastically looking forward to the launch of Adam, but prefers to laugh away the epithet of iPad killer. “Apple has such a big marketing arm that you can never call Adam an iPad killer,” he says.
But then you never know.
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