The first laptops XO laptops in the One Laptop per Child project rolled off the production line in November last year. In a talk given at TED in December 2007, Nicholas Negroponte spoke about the goals of the project. He said that structuring the organisation as a non-profit was of fundamental importance for ensuring clarity of purpose, opening doors to negotiate with governments, and attracting the best people to help with the project; people who are doing it because they believe in the mission.
The design considerations, including producing a rugged computer which can be used in broad daylight when no power is available, and which can be manufactured at minimal cost, have resulted in a number of significant innovations, including the ability to operate on less than 2 watts of power (which can be generated by a hand-operated power generator), a dual mode sunlight display, and the ability to connect to a WiFi mesh network.
Uruguay were the first country to place an order for 100,000 laptops. Other countries participating in the project so far include Peru, Ethiopia, Colombia, Mexico and Mongolia. So far approximately 700,000 have been sold. The cost per unit is under US$200, and it is hope that this will fall below US$100 over the course of the next year or so. So far the project’s ambitious targets have not been met, but this does seem a good way of providing education to children in poor countries.