Before Apple rescued the idea with the iPad in 2010, tablet computing was considered the ultimate niche market — useful for commercial or industrial niches, at best. That’s hard to imagine today, given the popularity of the iPad and the many alternatives that have followed. But recent trends in tablet devices may point to bigger changes ahead, reaching around the world and far beyond traditional computing markets.

A new trend presents the possibility of offering tablet computing at a much lower price.

Since 2010, dozens of new tablets have hit the market. While matching the iPad’s feature set at a lower price point has proven a challenge — some tablet lines have already failed — a new trend presents the possibility of offering tablet computing at a much lower price.

First up, Amazon’s popular Kindle Fire bridges the gap between e-reader and tablet for less than half of the iPad’s base price (US$199 compared with US$499). Other competitors have introduced smaller tablets with even lower price points, some flirting with the US$100 threshold. And now, the Aakash tablet — produced in cooperation with the Indian government — promises to go even further, at a cost of US$35 for students.

Of course, very inexpensive tablets cannot compete with the iPad in terms of features and performance. But that may be the wrong comparison. Price points like these can offer people in emerging economies the opportunity to “leapfrog” their technology. Just as cell phones bring communications to people without land lines, low-cost tablets could bring the Internet to people who could never afford a personal computer.

Two years ago, the iPad was introduced with Apple’s celebrated marketing flourish, promising to change the world with the new device. Soon, perhaps its inexpensive cousins may help do that very thing — for less.