Amazon/OLPC 'Give One, Get One' store opens
Nonprofit equity computing project One Laptop Per Child this morning opened its Give One, Get One (G1G1) store on Amazon.com.
For $399, customers buy one OLPC XO Laptop to donate to a developing nation, and get one for themselves or to give as a gift. The G1G1 program last year initially was slated to last only one week, but was extended due to the extremely high demand placed on the company's ordering infrastructure.
The project ended up placing more than 185,000 laptops in developing countries, and according to reports, doing $2 million worth of transactions a day. OLPC says that more than $35 million was raised to fund the delivery of the XO to 31 countries.
With Amazon's assistance, this year's Give One, Get One campaign is an "ongoing" program with otherwise similar details. The $399 donation Places one XO in a developing nation, and one in the buyer's hands.
The XO is a 7.5" convertible rugged notebook with a 433 MHz processor, 256 MB DRAM, 1 GB flash memory, 802.11b/g/s, SD slot, and a built-in webcam and microphone. Once again, the operating system is the much-lauded GNU/Linux-based OS called Sugar.
A $199 "donation only" version also remains available. OLPC's G1G1 promotion will continue until December 26.