back to article Pakistani military building PAC-PAD fondleslab

The Pakistani military has been using spare manufacturing capacity to build an Android fondleslab to go up against Apple’s dominant tablet. The tablets are built by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world, which primarily builds and tests aircraft for the Pakistani …

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  1. LaeMing
    Go

    Getting serious

    Considering Apple's behaviour towards other phone and tablet manufacturers, having some heavy military gear to go in against the Cupertino lawyers with might be a really useful thing!

    1. LarsG

      COOL...

      Three quarters of the population live in squalor many are not educated and cannot read, they are without even a toilets or running water YET they get billions in aid so THEY build nuclear weapons,

      Great

      Now they are working on a tablet! Amazing priorities they have.

      What a wonderful world.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Seriously?

        So no third world country should posses a technical industry, because they should just stick growing rice instead?

        Get a map. Look at Pakistan. Move your eye up a bit. There's China.

        They have nukes and not enough bogs too. But I'll bet you've bought a bunch of consumer electronics that were assembled there.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Seriously?

          If you love Pakistan so much, why don't you go live there?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Re: Seriously?

            Just how was I 'loving' Pakistan in anything I wrote?

            Or are you just being wilfully ignorant?

            Despite what your preconceptions might be, the population of Pakistan are actually human beings.

            Three years in the Gulf was quite enough for me, so I don't really plan on emigrating to Pakistan. But you should certainly consider giving it a look: Travel broadens the mind, and I think that yours needs quite a lot of that.

            1. This post has been deleted by its author

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Re: Re: Seriously?

              http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/

  2. Efros
    Thumb Down

    No mushroom cloud icon

    So no nuke app then.

  3. Crazy Operations Guy
    Mushroom

    The reason is simple

    If all of their enemies are busy fondling some piece of plastic, then they aren't in the air attacking them.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    iPak?

    Someone had to say it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iPak?

      I was thinking 'PakiPad' ... and no, before the PC zealots pick up their torches and pitchforks, 'Paki' as in 'PAKIstan' like 'Brit' in 'BRITish'.

      Yes I'm aware 'Paki' was a derogatory term in the UK 30 years ago... hence anon for those who're still living in the 70/80's.

      Despite the disclaimer, flame on ,anyway.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Re: iPak?

        Hmmm - can't recall many instances of 'Brit' prefixing the word 'bashing'. Still - kudos for taking on the 'PC zealots' anonymously.

        Pathetic.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Re: iPak?

        Upvoted for displayig common-sense on the intarwebs:

        —stan as a suffix on a country name means "home" or "land". Hence Kazakhstan = Kazakh-land, Uzbekistan = Uzbek-land, Tajikistan = Tajiki-land Turkmenistan = Turkmeni-land, Hindustan = Hindu-land, Afghanistan = Afghani-land and, yes... Pakistan = Paki-land. It's the name that the people give themselves and using the word in that sense is no more racist than calling someone from Scotland a Scot, or someone from Finland a Finn. Still, don't let your Politically Correct yearning to be offended on someone else's behalf get in the way of logic.

        Incidentally, the people most offended by being referred to as Pakis by those using it as a pejorative term tend to be Indians, who take it as an insult in the same way the Irish, Scots and Welsh do when labelled "English" by foreigners.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Re: Re: iPak?

          @Madra

          The worst one is calling a home nation denizen 'British'. We're English, Irish, Scots and Welsh. But 'British'? Bollox :)

      3. LarsG

        Re: Re: iPak?

        Someone will complain, they will search you out, find you, then try you for hate crimes, finally you will be convicted, by a PC jury who will be too scared to make a stand, presided over by a liberal judge who orders coffee without milk rather than a black coffee.

        Good luck.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Re: Re: iPak?

          I'm glad you're all so confident that the term 'Paki' is no longer being used as an epithet of racial abuse in the UK. So now that it's all sweetness and light, we can rehabilitate the word.

          Or, do you just want to go back to the good old days when racism was acceptable?

  5. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Devil

    Great news!

    Nothing will help Pakistan move into the 21st century than some cheap tablets. Hopefully they can put them out to Pakistani schools in a one-tablet-per-child way, get them on the Internet, downloading lots of corrupting Western influences....

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Good practice before you make a UAV perhaps

    Spec's seem somewhat lacking and limiting were a bump in the ram alone would of at least made it viable for even ICS, still, nothing special unless its a realy cheap price and given the parts used I'd guess it probably is.

    Still anything that has a backup quote like this: "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."

    Has to be a big thumbs up on many levels.

    1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Good practice before you make a UAV perhaps

      Here's my prediction. Several Pakistani government ministers will - purely by chance, of course - also be heavy investors in the sale and distribution of these tablets in Pakistan and neighbouring countries. Within a few weeks after launch (if not before), a tax will be levied on all inported tablets, neatly titling the price-competitiveness. The associated government ministers will cream in the profits. At the same time, other politicians (maybe the same ones even) or their relatives will approach Samsung, Apple and other tablet vendors, offering to act as "consultants" to help lobbie to overturn the new tax.

      No auditor will stop politicans introducing "hanky-panky" into any situation.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    And The Marketing Name Will Be

    The Doublecross Phone.

  8. Dana W
    Meh

    Wow.

    Everything I don't want an iPad for and so much less!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jehan Ara, head of Pakistan's Software Houses Association, said ... "I can't see the point. The air force is supposed to be protecting the air space and borders of the country"

    Well, they don't seem to be any good at that, so let's hope building the 'Allah-u-AkPad' better suits their skillset.

    1. AndyS

      http://lmgtfy.com/?q=daily+mail

      There you are, think that's where you were trying to go.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It is a valid military tactic

    Weren't we all worried about a Chinese manufacturer with links to their army (Huwaei?) supplying all the routers that BT were installing with the consequent theoretical ability to monitor or disrupt our communications at a time that suited them?

    Given the consumerisation of corporate IT, if lots of people buy these, I'm sure any embedded spyware could phone home with the odd useful login/password or two if anyone with critical access is using one of these, or perhaps do something interesting with subversive messages at a time of social unrest.

  11. Anonymous John

    15,500 PKR according to their website. £106.34.

  12. JaitcH
    Happy

    Even if they could sell a billion units, I can't see the point.

    It is common practice in developing countries for agencies such as the military or the police to have commercial arms.

    It generates "off budget" income that can be used for pet projects that official budgets can't be used for.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Even if they could sell a billion units, I can't see the point.

      "It generates "off budget" income that can be used for pet projects that official budgets can't be used for."

      They should call it the TaliPad then.

    2. Fatman
      Happy

      RE: It generates "off budget" income

      Which could be used to supplement official pensions. It doesn't hurt to have a private retirement plan if you are in the government of a third world nation.

  13. Android | .Net

    PAC Android

    Positive point; its designed by Pakistan..

    Negative point: need more Ram. as Android consume more Memory

    Congrates Pakistan.. Good Luck,

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