UAE company sparks controversy with first ever tablet for women

Having trouble with your iPad, ladies? Can't download those complicated apps? Not to worry, UAE-based tech company Eurostar has the solution.

No, this isn't a joke.

Dubbed the ePad Femme, Eurostar’s latest product is billed as the first ever tablet "made exclusively for women".

Complete with apps on yoga, recipes and perfumes, the 8-inch, touchscreen Android device, which comes in a - surprise – pink, aims to "adapt to [women's] diverse lifestyle" and is sold at AED 599 ($170). But it has received a frosty reception, with critics slamming the project as sexist and stereotypical.

Mani Nair, head of marketing at Eurostar, told ABC News: "We are easing out the hurdles of browsing or downloading applications with Android."

"Preloaded are cooking recipes, a yoga app, Office on the go. They are very user-friendly," he continued.

Eurostar seem to have decoded the female psyche, as the tablet also includes apps for hair loss, pregnancy, clothing size and grocery shopping. What more could women need?

As Raju Jethwani, Eurostar Chairman told Jazarah.net: "We are especially enthusiastic about the wide ranging applications and utility this tablet will offer to women.”

INTERNET BACKLASH

The online world is slamming the product as sexist and stereotypical.

"Whoever made this Tablet doesn’t understand us very well," prominent Saudi blogger Eman Al Nafjan told The Media Line. “We are home all the time and we are extremely tech-savvy.”

Journalist Casey Johnston at Ars Technica said the tablet "continues the sorry tradition" of sexist marketing.

"Not only does the ePad Femme continue this sorry tradition, but it takes it further. The ePad Femme bores into the functionality of the tablet itself, assuming that a women’s interests fit neatly into the stereotypical categories of fitness, weight loss, cooking, shopping, and having children," she wrote.

Over at The Guardian, one writer called the product "hard to swallow" and questioned what's next.

"What next? Alarms that go off each time we ovulate? A make-me-a-sandwich toaster?" she asked.

So ladies, what do you say? Does this product fulfill your every need? Tell us in the comments.