[geeks] Hey, it's cheaper than an iPhone...

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
>Date: 2007/07/12 Thu AM 08:43:07 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Hey, it's cheaper than an iPhone...

>On Thu, Jul 12, 2007 at 06:59:46AM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> Crud - you saw the smiley, right?
>
>Yes, I'm sorry if I offended you, I just wanted to join in. 

Oh, not offended - I just tensed up when I read your rant warning, wasn't sure how you meant it. No problem...

>> OLPNWC - One Laptop Per Non-White Child?
>
>An interesting name. Not PC, and not 100% correct, but close.

Agreed, not very PC, but that's what makes it fun!

Well, it's only available in under-developed/third-world locations, and I'mnot sure how many places meet that definition and are populated with large numbers of white people.

>> Asus Eee is $199/$299, dependent on FLASH RAM amount (4 or 8 Gig) and
>> screen size (7" or 10") - I didn't mention the screen size difference
>> earlier...
>
>That's not bad. Considering they have to make a profit at the plant, the
>distributor has to make a profit and so does the retailer, it's not
>bad. 

Beats the snot out of a PDA, and a 900 MHz P3 with 512 Meg RAM is *very* useful...

>It's not cheap enough to be given away to poor people, but I'm sure
>that's not it's focus. Even at that price an organization like CARE
>can afford to buy them and hand the out one per village, which is a big
>deal. I don't know the details of the unit so it may not be appropriate
>for many places.

It's not hardened against climate/dust/rough handling, it is just a low-cost laptop... Their goal is to offer it everywhere, to all takers.

>> He's not giving them away either, and his smallest order size is
>> several hundred thousand units at $150 (est.) each piece.
>
>Ouch. I expect that an NGO like CARE could distribute a hundred to villages
>in Africa and Asia as the "village computer", and if they suddenly became
>rich, many more and some to microenterprenuers. CARE is different among
>charities as they no longer focus on the famous CARE package of food, they
>focus on technology and and supplies to help poor people help themselves.

IIRC (and I could be wrong, so take with a grain of salt), their price-point was based on large-scale shipments to individual governments, and I imagine while they wouldn't rule out a large sale to an NGO like, say, CARE, the organization would have to order more than a few villages worth at a time...


Lionel