14 DAY TRIAL // Details about the $100 laptop, the product that looks like a laptop but is not a fully-fledged one, has a price tag under $100, and is created by the OLPC project, have surfaced on the Internet. The new device looks like an eBook reader which also provides some of the features of a laptop. It is believed that it will be shipped to children in 2010 under the name of XO2.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) founder, Nicholas Negroponte, offered the media a glimpse at the project's future product. He talked about the "book-like" device during an unveiling event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while also stating that he had high hopes the design would used by other manufacturers as well.
According the OLPC founder, the new product has been designed from a whole new different perspective compared to the project's current offer. It won't feature the green rubbery keyboard but rather a single square display hinged in its center. The display will come with touch capabilities, thus offering keyboard support for inputing data. This technology will also allow the XO2 device to be used as a normal book, offering children book-like learning experience.
The new concept will bring together the functionalities of several products into a single unit. XO2 will be used by many children because it combines the functions of a laptop, electronic book and electronic board. XO2 is said to be more energy efficient, about 50% better than the first generation of low-cost educational laptops. Nicholas Negroponte promised the XO2 product would also be lighter than its current version.
Up until now, OLPC's product has fallen short of expectations, which is why the release of its future version is seen as an effort to revitalize the project. Negroponte explained this by saying that the machines weren't popular because of their incapacity of running Microsoft's Windows operating system.