14 DAY TRIAL // The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC for short) is a program planned to design, produce and ship a very cheap laptop to developing countries in an attempt to boost the educational level. After almost two years from the official announcement of this program, the ''$100 laptop'' as it became known is getting dimmer again as a spokesman from the foundation said that the XO machines are getting into mass production with a price tag of $188, which is much higher than the originally anticipated one.
While the aim of the OLPC was to produce a laptop that could be sold for only $100, in May the foundation told that the $178 achieved price tag for the laptop cannot be further decreased and that the XOs will go into production. While the OLPC still tries to achieve its ultimate goal of designing and producing a laptop for only $100, it looks like the price tag is getting higher, so the $100 machine is far off into the future.
According to some sources, OLPC spokesperson George Snel said that a number of factors like the rising costs of nickel and silicon along with currency fluctuations led to the big price tag that is now sported by the XO laptops, while also telling that the price will not go higher than $190.
At almost $200 the OLPC laptops are delivering quite a performance punch and they also come with some innovative technologies when it comes to power savings and wireless networking, but the risen price tag may mean that the foundation will find it harder to sign up enough contracts as to make a difference. As most laptops are intended to be used in developing countries that have few resources to invest into the computer infrastructure, the almost double than original price may prove to be too much for some governments.
In order to keep the manufacturing prices at an affordable level, the OLPC foundation needs mass production and of course a lot of orders. Right now, One Laptop Per Child says that there are firm orders for more than 3 million computers and a number of countries like Brazil, Libya and Uruguay already announced their interest in the rugged XO laptops. Currently, the official shipment day is not yet known but mass production is slated to begin in October at the Quanta Computer's manufacturing plants.