The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex has recently announced plans of venturing into the tablet market by developing their own brand of tablets similar to Apple’s iPad, only cheaper. This project will be done in collaboration with a company called Innavtek in a Hong Kong-registered partnership that also builds high-tech parts for the warplanes.

Avionics engineers based in Kamra, assemble PACPADs in their spare time, with a produce rate of about a thousand units per day.

Even though this may be a bit on the controversial side, the country hopes that this new tablet will bring with it new opportunities in the consumer electronics market and a boost in self-esteem.

In fact, Pakistan has always been overshadowed by a vast majority of countries in terms of technology, especially arch-rival India. Additionally, the PAC PAD will enable Pakistan to become more involved in the world of information technology, an advantage that will play out well in the future.

Unfortunately, many are skeptical with this new tablet, citing it as a mundane attempt to simulate the Apple, Inc. flagship product and will probably never see mass production.

“I just can’t figure it out,” said Jehan Ara, head of Pakistan’s Software Houses Association, had this to say about the PACPAD. “Even if they could sell a billion units, I can’t see the point. The air force is supposed to be protecting the air space and borders of the country.”

The device itself will run on the Android 2.3, will be wi-fi enabled and comes with full HD resolution with 1GHz ARM processor and has 256MB of RAM and storage space between 2GB and 16GB.

The price will around $200, which is less than half the price of Apple or Samsung devices and cheaper than other low-end Chinese tablets on the market, with the bonus of a local, one-year guarantee. The PAC in the name, of course, stands for the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

The PACPAD will theoretically consist of almost all the iPad’s specs/features, but with a few minor differences. According to what has been revealed so far, it makes for a good e-reader and small laptop, although not nearly as efficient as its template.

The idea of the PACPAD is partially for the good of Pakistan’s economy, emphasizing the need for more development and a chance for the country to become more involved with a more diverse market for financial mitigation.

“It’s about using spare capacity. There are 24 hours in a day, do we waste them or use them to make something?” said Sohail Kalim, PAC’s sales director. “The profits go to the welfare of the people here. There are lots of auditors. They don’t let us do any hanky-panky here.”

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