"one Laptop Per Child" Costs Up 88%

[cdnvic]

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- The vaunted "$100 laptop" that Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers dreamed up for international schoolchildren is becoming a slightly more distant concept.

The $100 laptop has many innovative features including a pull cord for recharging by hand.

Leaders of the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child that was spun out of MIT acknowledged Friday that the devices are now slated to cost $188 when mass production begins this fall. The last price the nonprofit announced was $176; it described $100 as a long-term goal.

Spokesman George Snell blamed the increase on a variety of factors, including currency fluctuations and rising costs of such components as nickel and silicon. He said the project was committed to keeping the price from rising above $190.

While less than $200 for an innovative, wireless-enabled, hand-powered laptop is a relative bargain, a price nearly twice what the project's memorable nickname promised could make it harder for One Laptop Per Child to sign up international governments as customers. Those governments are expected to give the computers to children for them to keep and tinker with, which the project's founders believe will cause critical thinking and creativity to blossom.

"Where does it end? It started out at $130, then it was $148, then it was $176, now it's $188 -- what's next? $200?" said Wayan Vota, the former director of the Geekcorps international tech-development organization and current editor of the OLPCNews blog. "You have these governments who were looking at this original, fanciful $100-per-child figure, now we're going up towards or maybe past $200."

One Laptop Per Child says it has commitments for at least 3 million of its rugged "XO" computers, though it won't disclose which countries are first in line. Among the nations that have shown interest are Brazil, Libya, Thailand and Uruguay.

The "XO" machines feature an open-source interface designed to be intuitive for children; a sunlight-readable display; very low power consumption; built-in wireless networking; and a pull cord for recharging by hand. The laptops are being made by Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of portable computers.

Am I the only one who thought this was a bad idea from day one?

[RKASA]

I was always thinking its a great idea. The hope is it gets down to 100.00. It was rumored that they may sell them to anyone at 250.00 then use the higher price to offset the others and increase the volume of production helping the price yet alittle more. May never get to 100.00 but its only a goal. It is hoped to get the world connected and I hope it means lots of linux everywhere improving its support as well. Already a number of school book printing monoploy types around the world don't like it, which means its even a better idea. hack, even save some trees.

[solo siam]

You can get normal laptops brand new at $300-$350 for budget ones, mass produce these and the costs will come WAY down with the added bonus that 3rd world children won't grow up learning a computer and operating system that doesn't exist in the business/real world.

[canadiangirl]

You can get normal laptops brand new at $300-$350 for budget ones, mass produce these and the costs will come WAY down with the added bonus that 3rd world children won't grow up learning a computer and operating system that doesn't exist in the business/real world.

But the whole point of some of the features, like making it hand-powered and sunlight readable -- is to take into account the conditions of someone who is really poor -- for example, who doesn't have access to a consistent source of power -- which rules out a traditional laptop.

My friend had a chance to play with these laptops at a conference, and he said they seemed really good. They also assume that most kids won't have consistent internet access, so they have software that interconnects the laptops together to form a small network.

[solo siam]

You can get normal laptops brand new at $300-$350 for budget ones, mass produce these and the costs will come WAY down with the added bonus that 3rd world children won't grow up learning a computer and operating system that doesn't exist in the business/real world.

But the whole point of some of the features, like making it hand-powered and sunlight readable -- is to take into account the conditions of someone who is really poor -- for example, who doesn't have access to a consistent source of power -- which rules out a traditional laptop.

My friend had a chance to play with these laptops at a conference, and he said they seemed really good. They also assume that most kids won't have consistent internet access, so they have software that interconnects the laptops together to form a small network.

Sorry but how long is a laptop that has to be wound up by children in a desert going to last, besides I would think it more important to get electricity to these people than anything else if they don't yet have it. Who's going to training these millions of children in the special O/S, how are they localizing the platform for the thousands of languages and dialects out there?

I know about Mesh networking and don't see how it will help connect them to the internet or any sort of information, other than what the kid sitting next to them has on his computer.

Sorry but at $186 someone IS making a profit on these besides which in most of these countries $186 would feed, school and immunise children for a couple of years which is probably about the lifespan these computers will have. It all sounds hairbrained to me, let people learn to read etc... before expecting them to jump on a computer and do anything useful.

[cdnvic]

I just think that there's much better things to be providing these kids than laptops. (Immunization, vitamins, good school books)

Getting the price down to $100 isn't a goal anymore, as the article states. I think they'd be better off recycling used laptops for them if they absolutely must go around giving out laptops to kids.

[canadiangirl]

I just think that there's much better things to be providing these kids than laptops. (Immunization, vitamins, good school books)

Getting the price down to $100 isn't a goal anymore, as the article states. I think they'd be better off recycling used laptops for them if they absolutely must go around giving out laptops to kids.

Yeah, after reading more about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$100_laptop

I have some reservations as well. I'm not a huge fan of Nicholas Negroponte, who seems to head the project -- he's a bit too Wired pie-in-the-sky tech utopia for my taste.

I'm not too worried about internationalisation, as it runs Linux, which has pretty big support for various languages -- although to be honest, I don't know the level of support for more "obscure" ones (i.e. ones that people speak only in very poor countries with little access to the net)

I guess the argument for it is that kids are quite clever with technology, and pick it up easily. As well, one thing I find interesting in the developing world, is that people are quite clever and resourceful as well, with the means that they have -- how for example, the Thais recycled old engines into making the long-tailed boat engines. But it seems to be a bit vague to conclude "kids will play with these laptops and great things will happen!"

At the same time, if you think of setting up libraries in remote areas -- how are you going to get all those books there? How are you going to protect them against humidity, rain, high heat? Keep them from getting stolen, damaged, sold?

Of course, these are also issues with computers.

There's some research done into mobile technologies -- like mobile phones -- and how they can help the developing world. I find this is perhaps more promising. Jan Chipchase from Nokkia does really interesting research on how do people use mobile phones in the developing world -- and how companies can design phones for them. One study he does is: how do you design an interface that someone illiterate can navigate (to illustrate how hard it is to use a phone when illiterate, he says "change the language settings on your phone to japanese or korea -- see how much you get done). He also talks about how to design power supplies for people who only have intermittent access to electricity -- solar powered? some generator that would be hand-cranked? make it consume very little power so that they can get it charged at commercial charging ( (they have these in some countries -- you leave your phone there, and they can charge it for you. They're trying to design phones where you can charge the battery by itself, without having to use the phone)

The Economist had an interesting article a few months back about fishermen in Africa using mobile phones to get better prices for their fish -- they would call to the friend in the local markets, and find out what the prices were like that day, and then choose within the 2 or 3 markets that were close to them which would give them the best price. It worked for the people buying fish as well, as it meant that the fisherman avoided markets already flooded with fish, and went to ones with less fish to deliver their catch -- which equalized prices.

[elkangorito]

IMO, this is yet another ploy designed to make certain people truckloads richer than what they already are, by seeding 'consumerismism' in areas that can ill afford it.

It's a bit like the ploy a certain government had, which involved the 'donation' of GE (genetically engineered) food to Africa. When the poor Africans got wind of the ulterior motive, they rejected the this 'donated' food. BTW, the motive was to ultimately install foreign GE food companies/labs that would suck all the money/resources out of Africa.