Haiti manufactures touch-screen tablet

The first touch-screen tablet manufactured in Haiti has been released in capital Port-au-Prince with company officials announcing that sales will target other Caribbean markets.

The tablet, called Sutab, utilises the Android operating system.

"We are proud to have this tablet that is made in Haiti and it works fine and, as you can see, I am using it," Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said at the launch on Monday.

Chief executive of the Beligian-owned Surtab company, Maarten Boute, said his commitment is to offer a big-value product at affordable cost to make sure the youth and many professionals can have access to such a tool that they can use for their studies and their daily work.

"We want to democratise access and we want almost every single Haitian to be able to afford our product to serve the purpose of their technological needs.

"We want people to know that Haiti can be an important crossroad for appliances and electronics manufacturing," said Boute who partnered with the Haitian Coles family in this endeavour. "Haiti has very good working people and they have the passion," he added.

The wi-fi enabled Surtab has a factory price of US$$85. The 3G model costs US$150.

The company said it already has orders from Jamaica, Turks and Caicos and Suriname, and that other Caribbean and Latin-American countries have also shown an interest in the product.

- CMC