Advanced

Negroponte to announce "Give one, get one" OLPC promotion

Posted by Sander_Marechal on · 5 comments
Tech Blorge; By John Pospisil 		Mail this story
Print this story

Nicholas Negroponte, the visionary behind the One Laptop Per Child initiative (OLPC), has publicly expressed his disappointment at the lack of orders for his low-cost computer for poor children. The situation has become so dire that Negroponte will announce a "Give one, get one" promotion in the US and Canada. While production of the XO-1 is due to start next month, Negroponte had previously said that he needed 3 million orders to start production.

Full Story

  Nav
» Read more about: Story Type: News Story; Groups: OLPC

» Get new stories by e-mail: nightly or as they are published

« Return to the newswire homepage

  Related stories
» More like this

Comments (5)

Abe ·
He should have done that a while ago. I thought there were 5 countries who committed and paid already. I guess I was wrong about that. May be Libya did pay already.

I think this promotion will work if he can deliver before Christmas like he is saying.

jkouyoumjian ·
It is still not too late to abandon the whole OLPC idea. There are not enough orders from the market for which the OLPC laptop was designed. Trying to sell them in another market for which they were not designed is a symptom "build it and they will come" disease. This never works. "Build it and they will come" disease is always fatal. They will end up with 10s of 1000s of units being liquidated for pennies after they lose their shirts producing them. The marketplace is speaking loudly and clearly. Is Mr. Negroponte listening?
Abe ·
Quoting:It is still not too late to abandon the whole OLPC idea.
The idea is not too bad. It just didn't get cooked properly. Promises were change several times and even the computer itself was change too many times.

Now if they get it ready for Christmas, it might have a good chance in the US & Europe since many people would buy it for their kids instead of other useless toys. Then again, I think either Toys R Us or Mental has a similar unit and they sure have better marketing force and resources.



jkouyoumjian ·
You might be right.

However, Wal-Mart is offering an Acer Laptop which is far more capable than an XO for only $429 (just $29 more than OLPC). I don't see how they are going to get people to pay $400 for an XO. The charity aspect will not be enough.

If you really want to help our poor kids in Africa, give the $200 to Oxfam. They are already in place and ready to help with more important projects like clean water. Heifer International is good also. They help people get farm animals which gives them a source of income. The people take care of the animals and in turn the animals help take care of the people...

Abe ·
Quoting:If you really want to help our poor kids in Africa, give the $200 to Oxfam...
I don't disagree with you at all, on the other hand, Negroponte is trying to help in his area of expertise.

Post a comment

A free account is needed to post. Write your comment here first: your text is kept in this browser while you sign up or log in, and is waiting for you when you come back.

Your message:
|||||
10
Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [text](https://link), - lists, > quotes, $x^2$ for math. Formatting help

Sign up and post (it is free)  or  Log in and post