OT - The One Laptop Per Child Program

Wed Nov 7 13:30:49 MST 2007

Production Begins for Schoolkid Laptops

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
AP Technology Writer
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- The One Laptop Per Child Program, which hopes
to spread sub-$200 computers to schoolchildren in developing
countries, has reached a milestone with the start of mass production.

The nonprofit spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
said assembly lines for its "XO" laptops were fired up Tuesday at a
Chinese factory run by manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc. That means
children should begin getting the green-and-white computers this
month.

One Laptop Per Child did not specify how many computers will be made
or how many orders it has received from international buyers. The
program's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, said in September that Quanta
would build about 250,000 XOs this year, ramping to 1 million a month
in 2008.

Negroponte originally expected mass production of several million XOs
to have begun by now. But he scaled back that goal after encountering
reluctance from potential buyers.

The computers were dreamed up as $100 laptops but for now cost $188,
and buyers are expected to let children keep the computers and tinker
with them at home.

The initial recipients will be children in Uruguay, Peru and Mongolia.
Also, beginning Monday, people in North America will be able to buy
one for themselves and donate the other to a child overseas through
http://www.laptopgiving.org .

Even with mass production beginning later than expected, One Laptop
Per Child can claim success on several fronts. The small yet rugged
XOs require low power and can be recharged by hand, have a screen that
can be read in full sunlight and boast a user interface designed
specially for children. And the impending emergence of the XOs
awakened other companies to the potential of a low-cost educational
market, greatly expanding the choices that international buyers now
have.