Nonprofit group – One Laptop per Child Foundation (OLPC) has planned to hike the price of the XO laptop, the low-cost computers for poor children.
Earlier, the price of the XO laptop was slated to be $176. Now, the foundation will sell the device for about $188, almost double the original goal of the foundation’s founder, Nicholas Negroponte.
Negroponte, founder of MIT Media Lab, has often referred to the laptop as the “$100 laptop.” He is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Before the product rolls out, the foundation is making sure all the softwares are working fine and making corrections where needed.
The reason behind the rise in price is the increase on a variety of factors such as currency fluctuations and costs of components such as nickel and silicon.
The XO laptop will be sold directly to the Government that will later provide the computers to grammar school children at free of cost. There is no announcement on any other customers as yet. However, the foundation might sell the device on the commercial market at a higher price.
George Snell, Foundation spokesman said, “We are not disclosing any orders until we have a final computer. We are in talks with dozens of countries.” He added that the project was committed to keeping the price from rising above $190.
OLPC has already made an announcement that the laptop will hit the market during Christmas for $350.
When the laptop is released and has successfully made its impression, it could pressure the rest of the computer industry to start offering similar devices.
The XO laptop runs on Advanced Micro Device’s microprocessor and Linux software that had been developed by Red Hat Inc.
