In an unexpected development, chip giant Intel Corp. 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’s rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).
Previously, Intel’s efforts in the education market appeared at odds with those of OLPC. While OLPC expects to finally begin delayed volume shipments of its XO laptop in September, priced at US$175, Intel has been selling its Classmate PC laptop 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.
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