OLPC: The Secret Goal
The real news came from a comment who links to some official news: OLPC XO on Sale for Christmas Computer Buyers?!
Gee. I don't think they will make it, but what if they do?
Now please pay attention to this: «XO ... could initially sell for just $350, or twice its production cost, although the group is also considering a $525 price tag, said OLPC chief technology officer Mary Lou Jepsen.»
What is that for? «As the foundation prepares for mass production of its first model, the XO, to begin in October, it is looking for ways to subsidize manufacturing of the devices so that it can get more of them into the hands of poor children, Jepsen said.»
No, really?
Let me remind you that if they have for the XO a production cost of (say) $176 when manufacturing in millions of units, the so-called "Foundation" will sell the XOs to the interested governments at that price. They can't sell for less, because they can't afford to lose money, they're not the US Treasury! But they decided the OLPC project's goal is a humanitarian one, so they will just do it, no matter XO will have retail sales or not! This is their declared "mission".
Here comes the fun. Based on the HUGE interest (hype?) that XO has acquired (possibly more than Xbox 360, Wii, the iPhone and Harry Potter altogether), deciding to offer retail sales at 2x or 3x the mass-production price (after they repeatedly said there won't be any retail sales at all!) would be a tremendously profitable business, with a 100% to 200% profit margin!
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