OLPC: How a Computer for the Poor Got Stomped by Tech Giants

The Wall Street Journal has published a lengthy article on how and why Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child Foundation efforts to close the digital divide between the rich countries and the Third World ran into serious obstacles.

Negroponte had first proposed the design of a $100 laptop back in 2005 with the goal of supplying 150 million of that to the world's poorest school kids. He immediately gained the support of both world leaders and corporate sponsors.

But nearly three years later, only about 2,000 students in pilot programs have received OLPC, XO laptops, which now cost closer to $200 than the original $100 price. And the first mass production run is only for 300,000. Clearly, the original goal of 150 million users by the end of 2008 looks unattainable.

Negroponte's ambitious plan has been derailed, in part, by the power of his idea. For-profit companies threatened by the projected $100 price tag set off at a sprint to develop their own low-cost models, with Asus launching its Eee PC in October, ahead of the OLPC. The Asus Eee PC itself is based on Intel's low-cost Classmate PC platform. Negroponte has accused Intel of introducing the platform to compete directly with the OLPC XO laptop. Intel has repeatedly denied the charges, even as it continued to sell to Third Word countries, specifically to educational projects.

And while Negroponte's vision of providing Third World Countries school children with cheap laptops is coming true, the laptops are being supplied by companies like Asus and not by OLPC. Negroponte, at least, is gracious about it. "From my point of view, if the world were to have 30 million" laptops made by competitors "in the hands of children at the end of next year, that to me would be a great success," he said in a recent interview.

From all indications the Asus Eee PC is selling well. And because it uses Linux instead of Windows, Microsoft is getting into act by discounting its operating system software to protect its market. This has made the Eee PC even more attractive to the target users, further diffusing the waning interest in the OLPCs.

You can read the full article here.