Non-profit organisation the One Laptop Per Child foundation, which has produced the rugged XO budget laptop for developing nations, has this week announced that its initially limited time ‘Give One Get One’ promotional program is to be extended through to the end of the year.
The One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) has extended its limited time 'Give One Get One' program. Credit: OLPC.
Launched on November 12, the ‘Give One Get One’ offer was only supposed to run for a two-week period, allowing consumers in North America to pay $399 USD to purchase a single unit of the $200 USD Quanta-made XO laptop, while a second unit would be dispatched to a needy child in a developing country.
However, a massive surge of mainstream consumer demand following the launch of ‘Give One Get One’ has resulted in the foundation pushing back the offer’s closure until December 31, 2007.
"In the past 10 days, we’ve experienced an outpouring of support from the public that is truly gratifying and encouraging," enthused Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the One Laptop Per Child foundation. "Because so many people have asked for more time to participate either individually or in order to organize local and national groups to which they belong, we have decided to extend Give One Get One through the end of this year. During this extended period we will solicit input and transition to a program of giving only at the beginning of 2008. We want as many people as possible to have the opportunity to act upon the giving spirit of the holiday season."
The consumer appeal of the limited time offer reaches beyond the $399 USD price tag, with an OLPC press release pointing out that $200 USD of that contribution is tax deductible as the second unit will be dispatched for educational purposes to children in countries such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda. Furthermore, those opting in to the ‘Give One Get One’ offer also receive a year’s free access to more than 8,500 T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots across the United States.
The XO ‘subnotebook’ laptop is presently on offer to governments in developing nations for a price of $200 USD each for orders over 10,000 units. The OLPC foundation hopes to reduce that price down to its initial $100 USD target as component and production prices gradually lower throughout 2008.
Made by Quanta Computer, the world’s largest notebook/laptop manufacturer, the green and white XO offers a Fedora-based (Linux) operating system, 1GB of flash memory, an AMD Geode processor, 256MB of DRAM, a 7-inch TFT LCD anti-glare screen, 802.11b/g/s wireless LAN connectivity, a built-in camera, a sealed outer shell, and even a hand-crank system for manual battery charging.
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