Laptop for poor children at $100

By siliconindia   |   Saturday, 26 December 2009, 20:03 IST   |    10 Comments
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Laptop for poor children at $100
Bangalore: One Laptop per Child (OLPC) has revealed the design for its latest computer aimed at connecting children in the developing world. This laptop will be available by 2012 and would cost well below $100, OLPC said. This laptop is named as XO-3 and is a slim-line touchscreen tablet PC, according to BBC. The XO-3 will eventually replace the original XO laptop that first went into production in 2007. The new design replaces the proposed XO-2, a foldable e-book that was first shown off in 2008 but has since been scrapped by the organization. The innovative machines, which have been designed for use in remote and harsh environments, were designed for use by school children and featured a sunlight readable display and open source software. OLPC originally aimed to sell the low-cost laptops in lots of one million to governments in developing countries for $100 each. However, the non-profit organization had difficulty getting governments to commit to bulk orders. The machines - which are able to run both Linux and Microsoft Windows - are now offered in single units and cost around $200. So far the XO has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries. The high-price has not however put off all governments. Uruguay has bought a computer for every one of their school children. Walter de Brouwer, CEO of OLPC Europe said that these "saturation projects" were the future of the organisation both in the developed and the developing world. "I'm talking to three four countries in the EU at the moment," he told BBC News. "Once one says yes, the others can't say no." The organisation believes the new design will cost significantly less. Brouwer said that due to the decreasing prices of electronic equipment, he can imagine the laptop being sold for as less as 50, 60 or 70 euros. The concept laptop shows a touchscreen, a camera, induction charger, and a carrying ring on one of its corners. The laptop would include a chip from UK firm ARM. The XO 1.75 is set for launch in 2011. The 1.75 will merge elements of the current machines with technologies - such as a touchscreen - intended to be included in the XO-3. OLPC recently said that the organization would just focus on promoting its concepts and educational aims, rather than manufacturing laptops. "We are not a laptop company," said Brouwer. "Manufacturing a laptop is not such a big deal. The bigger appeal for us is deploying them and integrating them with education systems to transform a society." Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Chairman of the group, said that he hoped that industry would now copy the design for the XO-3.