The founder of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation of Cambridge, or OLPC, said yesterday that chip maker Intel Corp. repeatedly undercut the foundation's effort to distribute low-cost laptops to children in developing countries, even after joining the foundation's board in July.
"They were put on probation," said founder Nicholas Negroponte. "They were really misbehaving."
But Intel quit Thursday before it was fired. Intel spokeswoman Agnes Kwan said the company broke ties with the foundation because Negroponte had demanded that Intel stop distributing its own low-cost laptop, the Classmate, and focus entirely on the foundation's laptop, the XO. "We believe in a multiple solutions for children in emerging markets," Kwan said.
Founded in 2005, OLPC developed the XO laptop to sell for $100 or less, though its current price is $188. The foundation hopes to persuade developing countries to buy millions of the laptops, then distribute them free of charge to children, to assist in their education. The XO laptop uses a microprocessor chip made by Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel's biggest rival.
Former Intel chairman Craig Barrett dismissed the XO laptop as a "$100 gadget." But in July, Intel agreed to join the OLPC board and to develop an Intel chipset that works in the XO.
Intel and OLPC had planned to show off an Intel-based XO laptop at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Intel also agreed to provide $12 million in cash to the foundation: $6 million has already been paid and $6 million more was due on Monday. Because of the rupture, both the subsidies and the Intel-based laptop project have been canceled.
Negroponte said that as a member of OLPC, Intel should do nothing to undercut distribution of the XO. Instead, he said that Intel used its position on the OLPC board to make its attacks on the XO more credible.
Negroponte cited Peru, which has agreed to purchase 260,000 XO laptops. He said that after the deal was announced, Intel's top executive in Peru tried to sabotage it. "The head of Intel Peru goes to the vice minister in charge of OLPC's program, and starts saying, 'It's not going to work, it's never going to work; we know it's not going to work because we're on the board of directors.' " Negroponte said Intel used similar tactics to discourage officials in Mongolia from purchasing the XO.
Negroponte said Intel should stop marketing the Classmate in competition against the XO. Instead, he wanted Intel to focus on making an Intel-based XO, as well as other low-cost computing platforms that could be made by a variety of electronics firms. "My purpose," he said, "is to get laptops into the hands of kids."
Kwan acknowledged that Intel's employees in developing countries are pushing the Classmate machine, not the XO. "We are not in a position to talk about the XO in that setting." She said Intel salespeople focus on the company's own products.
Kwan also said that Intel is working with electronics firms in Brazil, India, Nigeria, and Turkey to make local versions of its Classmate machines. Kwan said that this will help developing countries develop their own high-tech industries and build their economies. She also said that halting sales of the Classmate would harm Intel's business partners.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.
