The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) budget XO computer may have not yet meet its initial sub-$100 USD ambitions, presently selling for around $188 USD per unit through bulk orders to governments in developing nations, but that hasn’t stopped its creators from unveiling a next-generation XO device with even lower price aspirations.
One Laptop Per Child Foundation reveals XO2 prototype. Image: OLPC.
With a target price tag of just $75 USD per unit and looking decidedly more like an e-book than a conventional laptop, the XO2 prototype was rolled out this week by OLPC Foundation chairman Nicholas Negroponte during an event held at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
According to long-time XO proponent Negroponte, the first XO2 computers should be ready for shipping to help the education of children in poorer nations some time during 2010. The foundation chairman also noted his desire to see the XO2’s rather radical design picked up and developed by other hardware manufacturers to further the reach of such technology.
Embracing twin touch-screen panels, the hinged XO2 will arrive as half the size of its predecessor and abandons the conventional keyboard input interface entirely, instead allowing the device to display a pressure sensitive keyboard for its users on one screen while the other can serve as the monitor.
Similarly, the dual screens enable the device to be used by multiple users as an e-book reader capable of holding more than 500 works, which, according to the OLPC, is how the smaller, lighter, and more energy efficient XO2 will initially be marketed.
“It is a totally new concept for learning devices,” said Professor Negroponte, who referred to the XO2 is somewhat of a “Trojan horse” in delivering its full usage. “Currently developing nations such as China and Brazil are spending $19 per student per year on books,” he added.
The initial XO laptop has largely failed to gain the market traction hoped for by Negroponte, with current sales of around 600,000 units falling significantly short of initial projections that saw global sales surpassing 100 million by 2008.
Many point to the lack of a Windows operating system as the primary reason countries haven’t shown much interest in the little device, which the OLPC has recently moved to address following the confirmation of an upcoming dual-boot model that will hold both Windows XP and a Linux-based OS.
To further boost XO exposure, Negroponte also used this week’s MIT event to reveal the re-launch of the ‘Get-One-Give-One’ offer, which enables individual customers to contribute to the foundation’s initiative by buying two XO units -- one for themselves and one for a child in a developing nation. The offer will be open to customers in North America and Europe when it goes live later in the summer.
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