XO laptop launches in Europe

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 12 Nov 2008 at 09:10

The One Laptop per Child Foundation will launch its G1G1 (give one, get one) program in Europe later this month, allowing UK customers to get their hands on an XO laptop while donating another to the developing world.

The program will be launching across Europe and the US on 17 November on a minisite hosted by Amazon. Customers in the UK will be charged £254 for two of the devices, one of which will be automatically shipped to the developing world.

The XO laptop was originally designed as an educational tool for use in schools in developing nations, and the G1G1 program was intended to improve economies of scale as well as raise donations for schools in poorer countries.

G1G1 was expected to last for only a few weeks, but the OLPC extended the deadline due to an "outpouring of support from the public" that it was claimed represented $2 million a day in sales.

However, it remains to be seen if demand for the devices will be as strong now that a raft of netbook devices have hit the market. For the same money a wide selection of more powerful netbooks are available, although none come with the satisfaction of donating a machine to the third world.

The XO is equipped with a 433 MHz AMD Geode LX-700 processor and 256MB of RAM, while storage is limited to an SD card slot.

Earlier this year the organisation unveiled the second-generation XO laptop, which is expected to feature dual touchscreens and no physical keyboard.

"To anticipate them costing $20 each is not out of the question," said Nicholas Negroponte, the OLPC's chairman.

However, the first XO laptop was hit by several price hikes that saw it climb well above its initial target price of $100.