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Monday 12th November 2007

OLPC laptops on sale to public 11:18AM, Monday 12th November 2007

Starting from today, customers in the US and Canada can buy an XO PC from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation - but only if they buy one for a child in a developing country, too. This is the first time that the laptops have gone on sale to the general public.

Customers will be charged $399 for the two laptops, and will be given a year's free Wi-Fi access. There are only a limited number of laptops available, and they will only be on sale between 12-26 November.

The price of the laptops has risen during development from the initial target of $100, to an estimated <

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$188 in September, and at launch has now doubled to $200 - or quadrupled if you count the cost of buying the second machine.

The Foundation insists this offer is the only time that members of the public will be able to buy one of the XO laptops, but this may not be an issue for many now that the Eee PC has been launched by Asus.

The Eee PC offers similar functionality for the same cost as the two XO laptops, but is widely available and not restricted to a limited number of units.

If the OLPC Foundation were to offer the XO laptops for sale to the general public with no strings attached, then economies of scale could bring the price down considerably, and perhaps encourage more government orders for the device.

Matthew Sparkes

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