One Laptop per Child (OLPC) announced today that work is already underway on a OLPC XO 2.0 laptop computer. Leveraging new advances in technology, the primary goal of the OLPC XO 2.0 will be to advance new concepts of learning as well as to further drive down the cost of the laptop so that it is affordable for volume purchase by developing nations.
Based on feedback from governments, educators and most important, from the children themselves, OLPC is working to lower the cost, power and size of the XO laptop, according to Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of OLPC.
The first generation XO laptop went into production in early November 2007, and there are approximately 600,000 units in deployment in a number of countries including Peru, Uruguay, Mongolia, Haiti, Rwanda, Mexico, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the US and Canada.
Key goals for the OLPC XO 2.0 include an even lower target price of $75 than the original $100 price point, reducing power consumption from 2-4 watts to 1 watt, a new design about half the size of the original XO, and lastly adding a dual-touch sensitive display to enhance the e-book experience. The design provides a right and left page in vertical format, a hinged laptop in horizontal format, and a flat two-screen wide continuous surface that can be used in tablet mode.
Younger children will be able to use simple keyboards to get going, and older children will be able to switch between keyboards customized for applications as well as for multiple languages. The dual-touch display is being designed by Pixel Qi, which was founded in early 2008 by Mary Lou Jepsen, former CTO of OLPC.
Availability of the OLPC XO 2.0 is planned for delivery in 2010. XO 1.5 will be released in the spring of 2009 with the same design as the first generation but with fewer physical parts and at lower cost than XO 1.0.
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