From The World Next Week via Intellibriefs:

MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) social welfare organisation is hoping to ship 5 million to 10 million cheap laptops to developing countries this year. But the nonprofit organisation will struggle to lower the actual cost and increase the sales of its so-called ‘$100 laptop’ in the face of competition.

Negroponte’s original plan was based upon economies of scale. He expected the governments of developing countries to order millions of his cheap XO-1 laptops in order to cut manufacturing costs. The ‘$100 laptop’ currently costs $180 to buy, but almost $200 to make. But major electronics companies — such as Intel and Taiwan’s Asus Computer — befog the professor’s worthy vision: they are introducing similarly-priced rival laptops that will also deliver cheap computing to poor children, and turn a profit.

Judging whether the OLPC program was a success or failure lies in perspective. Certainly from Negroponte’s point of view it could be called a failure, but in fulfilling the larger aims of the program, that is “bringing internet connectivity to areas that currently lack telecommunications infrastructure,” time will no doubt show that OLPC was a resounding success.

Corporate enterprise may not have taken the lead on technology in the developing world, but the fact that they have shifted from undermining the OLPC to competing with it shows that the UN does have the power to reach humanitarian goals, even if that power is only bullying business into action. Certainly corporate enterprise would prefer a price war with the UN to more harmful practices like market planning and trade regulation, and with the right publicity, the UN would appreciate a new image as an innovator in humanitarian capitalism.

For more info on the OLPC - Laptop.org (official) - Wikipedia

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