The $100 laptop now costs… $188?
Cheap laptops for the developing world aren’t what they were. Take the One Laptop Per Child project, which came out of MIT in the US with the noble aim of mass-producing a laptop that’d cost $100, to ensure schoolchildren around the world could watch The Salmon Dance on YouTube too.
However, when the laptop begins production later this year, it’ll actually cost $188, due to rising component costs and currency fluctuations. Although it’s still exceptionally cheap given the laptop’s wireless capabilities, experts say the price hike could put governments in the developing world off ordering the laptop.
Incidentally, I’m intrigued by the laptop’s built-in pull cord, which lets you recharge its battery with a bit of armwork. Can someone introduce this into more expensive laptops too? It’d make no end of a difference when liveblogging technology press launches…
(via CNN)
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