Foundation Raises Price of Proposed $100 XO Laptop

Not long ago, the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, a non-profit group, had announced its intent to provide XO laptops for poor children. The initial price for the laptop was set at $176 in May. However, the agency has revised the initial price for the laptops, according to a statement on Friday.

A statement made by the foundation spokesman George Snell on Friday said the laptops would now be priced at $188. The new price means the laptops will now cost almost twice what the founder of the foundation had envisioned initially. Founder Nicolas Negroponte, MIT researcher and brother of US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, had earlier set $100 as the price of the laptop.

Nicolas often called the laptop the $100 laptop, in keeping with the low cost he had associated with it at the start. Nicolas said the laptop was currently undergoing tests to ensure the software was working.

The increased price will, however, not affect their distribution among the poor children. This is because the foundation would be selling the laptops to the different governments, who in turn would offer them to the children free of cost. Snell said the foundation was in talks currently with governments of a number of countries. He also said the company would not be releasing any information about possible orders until the laptop was ready.

The foundation also has plans to sell the laptop commercially, though at a higher price than the $188 it is targeting for the governments. There is a feeling commercial success of the XO laptop would mean other companies would be under pressure to deliver such cheaper models as well.

The XO laptop works on Linux software that has been created by Red Hat Inc. Software giant Microsoft has already released a statement saying it was testing the machine for compatibility with Microsoft’s Windows operating server. If it is capable, the laptop could possibly run on the Windows OS. The microprocessor for the laptop comes from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.