Update: This is it! Today is the start of One Laptop Per Child "$100 laptop" production! Pablo Flores caught it first:
According to what Walter Bender said today in the inauguration of the OLPC Learning Workshop that is being held this week in Boston, right in this moment is starting the mass production of XO laptops. Initially, it is expected to have a production of 15,000 laptops per week, which will be accelerated afterwards.Quanta Computer is in fact building XO computers:
And no matter if Mary Lou Jepsen questions the very concept of high-volume computer assembly, check out who is on the Changshu XO-1 mass production assembly line.
I do hope production does ramp up quickly. Today I called the toll-free G1G1 number: 1-877-70-LAPTOP and found out exactlywhen OLPC's telemarketers are going to start taking XO-1 sales orders. She says they will start taking XO laptop sales orders starting at 8pm Eastern Standard Time.
Now why would OLPC pick such an odd hour to start G1G1? Where in the world is 8pm Eastern Time convenient for people to manage the incoming orders? How about Taipei, Taiwan, the headquarters of Quanta Computer? There it would be 9am on Tuesday morning.
But Quanta and OLPC still have a problem - neither is a consumer laptop retailer even if Quanta builds laptops for retailers. So who is going to manage the actual sales process - order fulfillment from Taiwan to Texas?
Be sure to share your ideas, bets, and even rumors at tonight's OLPC News San Francisco Meetup at 21st Amendment brewery & restaurant (map)
Recent Comments
"Finnaly"? Please.
Will they ship laptops to Europe?
Negroponte says the total number on order is now 300,000.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1678273,00.html
I am so excited about it.. Why cant amazon or someone like apple sell them directly?
Eduardo,
In that same Time article, Nicholas Negroponte was found to be lying to us about laptop numbers, so how can we trust his order numbers?
"Negroponte confesses to "bluffing" on the original numbers to create momentum for the project. "You need scale to change people's minds," he said. "We must create an avalanche."
Outstanding news, now all they need to do is finish the software in time... But it's great to see the work on the hardware finally coming to an end, that should also free up resources to work on other issues and topics!
Wayan, good point. I wonder if there is any way to get reliable numbers on orders.
6 AM EST Nov. 12 is when I can make that donation and get an xo coming to my household, according to an email I just got from laptopgiving.org.