Intel joins One Laptop Per Child initiative
114642
InfoWorld - In an unexpected development, chip giant Intel has joined the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. The nonprofit project aims to equip children in developing countries with specially designed low-cost notebooks powered by chips from Intel rival&#160;AMD.
758180
The product of the One Laptop per Child project gets thumbs up from a focus group of its target users.
112984
A low-cost laptop, designed for children in developing countries, will go on sale in North America.
371117
Intel is working on an updated version of its&#160;Classmate PC&#160;designed for schoolchildren in developing countries, part of a wider effort to spur demand for low-cost laptops.Based on the company&#39;s&#160;upcoming Silverthorne processor, the new Classmate PC will likely be sleeker and have longer battery life than the current version, according to Navin Shenoy, general manager of Intel&#39;s Asia-Pacific operations.&quot;It&#39;s fair to say that there is a Silverthorne-based Classmate design in the works that would likely come out coincidentally with the microprocessor,&quot; Shenoy said, adding that Intel has not determined pricing for the new laptop design.Silverthorne, which is billed as being easy on both power and the pocketbook, is part of Intel&#39;s Menlow platform that also includes the upcoming Poulsbo chip set. The dual-core chip is scheduled for release during the middle of this year and is central to Intel&#39;s plans for small, handheld computers that Intel calls MIDs, or Mobile Internet Devices, and low-cost laptops, like the Classmate and Asustek&#39;s Eee PC.The current Classmate PC is a big-boned, 1.4 kilogram machine with a 900MHz Celeron M processor and a 7-inch screen. The laptop runs Windows XP and comes with Wi-Fi, 256MB of RAM and 2GB of flash memory in lieu of a hard disk. These specifications won&#39;t send a gamer&#39;s heart racing, but they are enough to get the intended job done.Priced at around $285, the Classmate PC is roughly $100 more expensive than the&#160;One Laptop Per Child Project&#39;s XO laptop, the Classmate&#39;s main competitor. Intel has said volume production would bring down the Classmate&#39;s cost to about $200, but the low-cost laptops have so far grabbed more headlines than sales.Even so, Intel&#39;s Classmate PC development efforts have had a wide impact, largely thanks to the Eee PC, which uses many of the same components but has a thinner, more stylish design.Consumer enthusiasm for the Eee PC largely caught Intel off guard. When the low-cost laptop, which also uses a 900MHz Celeron M processor, was announced at the Computex trade show last year, Intel expected Asustek to announce a $199 laptop for education customers. But the Taiwanese computer maker had other ideas and declared -- to the surprise of Intel executives -- that the Eee PC would instead be marketed to consumers in markets around the world.While the Eee PC&#39;s price tag climbed substantially from the original announced price, at $400 or so the small laptops remain a relative bargain and users have been snapping them up as fast as Asustek can make them.As other computer makers show interest in following Asustek&#39;s lead, Intel has embraced the low-cost laptop as an important product segment for the consumer market, as well as the education market.&quot;We think that there&#39;s going to be a wide variety of multinationals and local OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] who decide to go after this segment,&quot; Shenoy said.
339067
The head of the One Laptop Per Child effort says Intel could still contribute to the program for developing nations.
405330
(InfoWorld) - In an unexpected development, chip giant Intel has joined the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. The nonprofit project aims to equip children in developing countries with specially designed low-cost notebooks powered by chips from Intel rivalÂ AMD. Previously, Intel's efforts in the education market appeared at odds with those of OLPC. While OLPC expects toÂ finally begin delayed volume shipments of its XO laptopÂ in September,Â priced at $175, Intel has been selling itsÂ Classmate PC laptopÂ in bulk since March. Classmate currently costs around $225, but Intel hopes to lower that price to $200 by year-end. Intel has been selling Classmate primarily in Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan, while OLPC has beta copies of its laptops in use by schoolchildren in Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, and Uruguay. The governments of those seven nations have pledged to purchase the XO laptops in bulk when volume shipments begin. Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC, has previously said publicly that Intel's Classmate efforts have been adversely affecting his project, given the well-funded nature of the chip maker's initiative. Intel and OLPC had engaged in conversations on and off for a while but nailed down an agreement to work together in the last month, according to Will Swope, vice president and director of corporate affairs at Intel. "Our role here is one of how do we have the biggest impact on education and on children around the world?" he said. The chip maker has spent more than $1 billion in education initiatives since its founding and over the last five to six years has been investing annually around $100 million on such projects. "How could we make that more impactful and reach more children?" Swope asked. The answer, he said, was to join OLPC. "Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children,â Negroponte agreed in a statement. Under the agreement, Intel and OLPC will look into collaborating on both the technology and educational fronts. Intel will also join the OLPC board. In the short term, Intel will effectively be supporting two different laptop programs -- OLPC and Classmate -- which will sometimes overlap, while retaining some unique capabilities, according to Swope. It will be up to governments to decide which machine they want to buy for their schools. Over time, the two lines will become "more complementary" and Intel and OLPC will partner a lot more, he said. As yet, it's too early for Intel to provide specifics on that area of the relationship between the two organizations and product lines, Swope added. The agreement doesn't have anything to do with Intel making chips for the XO laptop, although should the contract to provide silicon for the device be up for grabs, Intel would naturally be interested, Swope said. AMD, an OLPC board member, is supplying its Geode processors for the machine. "We're definitely excited by this change of heart [by Intel] and welcome their contributions," said Rebecca Gonzales, director of marketing communications at AMD. "We're happy to have them as part of the group." AMD has long said that the technology divide that OLPC is trying to bridge with its XO laptop can't be achieved by a single entity, Gonzales added. AMD has worked closely with the other corporate members of OLPC, which include Brightstar, eBay, Google, News, Nortel Networks, Quanta Computer, and Red Hat. The vendor is looking forward to Intel joining the board and providing a fresh take on the project, Gonzales said. Intel isn't disclosing all the conditions of its membership in OLPC. Swope noted that a number of other IT vendors are lining up to join the project under the same terms as Intel, and OLPC doesn't want to disclose those specifics until those other companies have also become members. Intel also isn't revealing how much it's investing in OLPC and that figure may remain undisclosed, Swope said. OLPC has struggled to bring its ambitious project to fruition. Initially, the organization had hoped to begin selling its laptop at $100, but that's proved impossible given spiraling production costs. The laptop is being manufactured by Quanta with the Taiwanese vendor hoping to produce 1 million computers by year-end. Negroponte continues to vacillate on whether OLPC will also make the notebooks available outside of the developing world, for instance, to U.S. states.
522943
The new chips are targeted at kiosks and cash registers, as well as larger platforms like set-top boxes and thin-client PCs, and will likely power the $100 system for the One Laptop Per Child project.
269138
Intel Corp  said on Thursday  it will drop out of the One Laptop Per Child project and resign  from the board after the project's board demanded the chipmaker  stop supporting other efforts in emerging markets.
431449
Intel withdraws from a project that aimed to put cheap laptops in the hands of children in developing nations.
523052
One Laptop Per Child project leader encouraging wealthy countries to buy $100 laptops for poor economies.
275424
The nonprofit that aims to seed the developing world with inexpensive laptop computers for schoolchildren has made peace with Intel Corp., the project's biggest and most powerful rival, The Associated Press has learned.
651844
SAN FRANCISCO/ TAIPEI  - Intel Corp.  has  detailed plans to team up with Asustek Computer Inc. ,  the world's largest maker of computer motherboards, to make a  notebook PC that would cost as little as $200 and be aimed at  mass markets in developing countries.
635127
Intel Corp. said Tuesday its diminutive low-cost laptop will be evaluated in Brazil next year alongside a cheaper alternative from a nonprofit group seeking to bring computers to poor children worldwide.
64505
Despite previous bad blood between Intel and the One Laptop Per Child program, which opted to include AMD processors in the low-cost computer for developing nations, the leading chip manufacturer will join the non-profit's board of directors and help fund the initiative.
596047
The One Laptop Per Child Project will start selling its low-cost computers in the United States, one of the founders of the organization says.
179904
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization has announced a two-week sale from November 12 to November 26, with the objective of catalyzing greater support from philanthropists and generous consumers, as well as emerging nations whose citizens could stand to benefit.
616579
One Laptop Per Child and Intel take competing approaches to manufacturing, pricing PCs--and it's not yet clear which will prevail.