The One Laptop Per Child scheme is, on the face, a simple one: provide affordable ($100 or Rs 4,200), low-energy consuming (less than 2 watts), rugged laptops (called the XO laptop) to children in remote and impoverished areas.
The laptops come with built-in wireless (wi-fi) capability, so that children can create what's called a 'mesh wi-fi network' that keeps them interconnected. They've achieved three parts of the four-pronged plan, Negroponte says, but the current price of Rs 8,000 is nearly twice the Rs 4,200 that the group envisages.
Negroponte does, however, expect this target price to be met by the end of 2009, once the XO laptop is manufactured in greater numbers.
At the American Centre in Mumbai on Monday, Negroponte and Cavallo gave a two-part presentation that outlined their business plan and experiences thus far, while also mapping out a future that sees their product in use worldwide (they've sold less than one million units thus far).
Then, they answered questions from the audience that put the OLPC scheme in an Indian context. Read on to fin dout what Negroponte has to say. . .
Image: Nicholas Negropante (left) and David Cavallo (right) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. | Photograph: Sanjay Sawant.
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