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One Laptop Per Child sales to launch in U.S. at Amazon

by on12 November 2008

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Coming November 17th


Amazon.com has announced that it will begin selling One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC) XO laptop on its Web site starting on November 17th.  Amazon says that the XO laptop will be sold in the same way as its previous Give One, Get One (G1G1) program, where a consumer spends $400 for two laptops.  One of the laptops is then delivered to a child in a developing country.

Amazon has said that it will only offer Linux-based XO laptops, with no Windows versions being sold. The U.S. Amazon storefront will exclusively sell the XO for now, according to OLPC. The laptop comes with 1GB of internal flash storage, 256MB of RAM, a 7.5-inch LCD screen and wireless networking. It is supposed to be rugged and able to stand up to harsh weather conditions.

The XO will be outfitted according to the location where it is to be sent. It will feature a lithium-ferro phosphate specially designed battery, which is supposed to be more power-efficient than standard laptop batteries.  The laptop can also be set up to run on solar power or on a small amount of power generated by a foot pedal or a pull string in locations where electricity is not present or is not reliable.

OLPC is a nonprofit organization that wants to do great things in the global developing world education market with its XO laptop.  Unfortunately, Intel Corporation decided to compete with OLPC, rather than having a unified vision, and began offering the Classmate PC for sale, thus undercutting the potential sales that OLPC had planned on around the world. Initially, the OLPC initiative was hoping to be able to sell the laptop for under $100, and then the price jumped to $200 due to manufacturing costs.

The XO laptop is currently undergoing an incremental update that will make it faster and able to store more data and is code-named the XO-1 Gen 1.5. The new upgraded version will likely include a faster processor, increased flash storage, a new wireless chip and rubber bumpers for better screen protection. Its ship date is targeted for Q1 2009, according to OLPC.

Last modified on 12 November 2008
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