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One Laptop Per Child to Focus on Australia
Mon, 12 May 2008
The One Laptop Per Child foundation, which has typically distributed low cost laptops to children in developing countries, has begun to focus its efforts on Australia . After the Northern Territory Government conducted a trial of the XO laptops, the One Laptop Per Child’s five man Australian board is to meet government representatives to discuss distributing XO laptops on a larger scale around Australia.

The recently elected Australian President Kevin Rudd revealed his desire to give every high school student a computer in the recent election, a promise which has given the OLPC scope for success. One of the proposals for the distribution of laptops would be for the Australian government to purchase an initial 5,000 prior to any further purchases.

The One Laptop Per Child initiative has already sold an estimated 600,000 units to governments in developing countries, as well as to the mayor of the US city of Birmingham in Alabama. The laptops have hitherto been designed for six to eleven year olds in developing countries, though with the OLPC expanding into America and Australia, it appears the organisation is diversifying. After the cost of an XO laptop escalated to $188, it had been promised that cost would come down as production increased. With production set to increase in Australia, it will be interesting to see the effects on cost.