OLPC aims to sell 1 mn laptops in India

Boston-based One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organisation, is targeting to sell 1 million OLPC XO laptops in India by the end of the current financial year.

OLPC  XO is especially developed for children in developing countries. The small textbook-size 256GB-compliant laptop comes with 1-gigabit RAM  and 1-gigahertz speed, and is fully-loaded with Wikipedia content and Wiki dictionary.

“The momentum has just begun in India. We are targeting government primary schools as illiteracy in the country is in the level of primary schools,” said Satish Jha chairman of OLPC India Foundation.

Jha was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of eIndia 2010, a three-day conclave on the IT and ITeS sector that concluded here on Friday.

At present, there are 2,000 OLPC XO laptops in use in India, while the foundation has sold 2.5 million units so far across 40 countries. Manipur is the first adopter of this initiative, followed by Kerala, which recently placed an order for 150,000 units.

OLPC is offering its laptop for Rs 11,000 in the US and Rs 15,000 in India on account of additional cess and clearance charges from the customs. “The Gujarat government had placed an order for 350,000 units recently. Andhra Pradesh has evinced interest in the product and we will be meeting the government officials shortly,” Jha said. “Our India plans are what the state governments want.”