OLPC To Sell 7-Inch XO Tablet In Wal-Mart 99
angry tapir writes "One Laptop Per Child is back in the tablet race, announcing a new 7-inch tablet with the Android OS that will be sold commercially and include its learning software. The XO Tablet was announced at the International CES show in Las Vegas. OLPC will license the design to Sakar International, which will sell the tablet in the U.S. through Wal-Mart."
Re:So does this mean that (Score:3, Interesting)
Walmart has many stores in China, and Walmart is going to set up shop in India very soon.
Last time I check, both China and India are regarded as "3rd world".
BTW, that "Sakar International" doesn't sound legit. Even their site is really lousily built.
Re:Two years too late (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps not.
When a government makes a choice about what device it will be adopted for mass distribution, the market logic doesn't necessary applies.
For how many years the device will be in production? For how many years will be possible to fix broken ones? For how many years new software will be available to them?
On the consumer market, this cycle is just too small. No honest and competent govern will invest a ton of money on a device that will be deprecated and abandoned by the manufacturer in the next year.
There's also a political bonus: since the devices are semi-obsolete (as you stated), the manufacturers doesn't have to worry about competition. There'll be no lobby against it. Better, will be lobbies pro it - it's a nice opportunity to make yet some more bucks more using already paid off installations and machinery.
Re:Too little, too late (Score:5, Interesting)
If the tablet also has the dual-mode Pixel Qi display, that would be a notable differentiator.
You misunderstand "the OLPC concept" if you think its time has passed.
Re:One antimalarial course per child (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been to Ethiopia. They go to school with Malaria. Like most diseases we see the horror stories. Most people with the disease are walking around with it and while they may have some debilitating symptoms, they aren't life threatening. It's when the person gets a second illness and becomes weak that Malaria gets deadly. I'm not sure of the total political situation there but I believe they are socialist. Their clinics are all free. The children walk in and they get treated for free. The medicine they use however is not totally effective. We took a girl there and they said that the treatment they had (and I have no idea what it was) kept the disease at bay, but it would eventually come back. According to the dr, so may people have the disease that it did little good to cure someone of it, because they'd just catch it again within a year. So instead, they buy this cheaper medication. The girl was getting adopted by an American family and according to the Dr the family could get a cure when they got back to America which they did.
Re:It was always a novelty for the 1st world!!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
People here are missing the point. This device isn't about the 1st world.
Uh no, you have missed the point, along with OLPC. This device is utterly unsuited for the developing world. Flexible power? Gone. Cover for the screen? Gone. WiFi repeater functionality? Gone. Ruggedizing? Most important single feature, gone. The truth is that you can buy similar devices from Aliexpress for half the money. Why pay twice as much to get it in a goofy color?