Harsimran Singh, New Delhi
The Economic Times
The Massachusetts-headquartered association, which set up its office in the capital this month, claims to have already gathered sponsorship commitments from six top business houses for distributing about one million laptops to primary school children.
Sources say that the OLPC is also talking to major companies like Infosys, Bharti and the Tatas for sponsorship commitment of the laptop called XO-1. Bharti, however, declined having made a large order commitment as yet.
The price of a laptop is about $300 (inclusive of deployment and maintenance). However, without the deployment charge, the laptop costs about $200. “The laptops will only be available for charitable donations to primary schools. But, if an individual wants to buy the laptop for personal or corporate use, he/she may have to shell about $400 for two laptops. One laptop will go towards a school of his choice, while the other can be used by the buyer for personal use. We also plan to print the brand of the company on laptops provided it gets a large order,” says OLPC India advisor Hema Virani.
According to OLPC officials, the actual cost of the XO-1 Laptop is $100 but with additional features like video camera and USB ports, the cost goes up to $200. With maintenance and deployment costs, the cost shoots up to $300.
OLPC critics argue that the OLPC which was meant to be a $100 has nearly doubled its price thereby making large orders unaffordable by many governments in developing markets. But OLPC counters it.
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