OLPC may also be available for US schools

The laptops from the One Laptop Per Child project may also be made available to schools in the United States. Earlier, the leaders of the OLPC project had announced that the cheap computers would only be delivered to poor countries.

Earlier today, we wrote that the price of the laptop will be around $175, nearly double the $100 previously quoted as price. In America, however, the lap computer will cost more, according to OLPC foreman Nicholas Negroponte. The reasoning behind this is that in the US more money is available for education and therefore more can be paid for the laptop. Meanwhile, the governors of 19 US states have expressed interest in the OLPC computer and the first laptops are expected to be delivered to them by the end of the year; that is the same time as when the first laptops will be delivered to the poor countries.

According to Stephen O’Grady, an analyst at RedMonk, several million OLPC laptops can be sold in the US. Despite the fact that America is one of the richest countries in the world, there are also many families where children do not have a computer. This cheap laptop would be a godsend for them, says O’Grady. Negroponte has not made clear what the OLPC organization will do with the additional revenue from the sale of laptops to US customers. However, there is a good chance that this money will be used to lower the purchase price of the device for the poor countries; Previously, the idea had already been put forward to sell the laptop worldwide for a price that is twice as high, so that for each copy sold, one copy could be given away in poor countries.