One Laptop Per Child campaign raised $35 million
One Laptop Per Child said today that its recent Give One Get One campaign raised $35 million that will provide more than 100,000 of its XO laptops to poor children in developing countries.
One Laptop Per Child is a Cambridge nonprofit group set up by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte; the group's goal is to provide low-cost laptops to poor schoolchildren around the globe.
The Give One Get One campaign ran from Nov. 12 through Dec. 31, the group said.
When first announced, the campaign allowed consumers to pay $399 and get two laptops - one for themselves and the other for a child in a country such as Afghanistan.
In total, One Laptop Per Child said today, the campaign raised $35 million, and more than 100,000 XO laptops are already in the process of being distributed to children in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mongolia, and Rwanda.
Founded in 2005, OLPC aims to develop the XO laptop to sell for $100 or less, though its current price is $188.
How successful the program will be is uncertain, in part because the nonprofit faces competition from companies such as Intel Corp., which is distributing its own low-cost laptop.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
