PC World - The nonprofit group One Laptop Per Child wants to produce a touchscreen tablet computer by 2012 that will cost less than $100.
OLPC released its device roadmap this week, which includes two upgrades to the original XO computer, as well as lofty plans for a new 8.5-by-11-inch tablet device called the XO-3.
The design for the XO-3 is ambitious. The tablet would be about 0.24-inch thick (half the thickness of the iPhone), with an 8.5-by-11-inch screen, a virtual keyboard, no buttons at all, and a folding ring for easy carrying. It would be made entirely of plastic, and is designed to be durable and waterproof.
The device would use Palm Pre-style induction charging, so it would use less than a watt of power, according to Forbes. There's no word on software, but the XO-3 would have an 8-GHz processor.
As if those specs weren't enough of a lofty goal, OLPC's founder Nicholas Negroponte told Forbes the XO-3's "less than $100" target price would be $75, the same number OLPC wanted to hit with its earlier two-screen tablet concept called the XO-2, which has now been scrapped in favor of the XO-3.
OLPC hopes it won't have to develop the XO-3 alone, and that computer manufacturers will take the lead in developing the device. To that end, OLPC will work on the XO-3 as an open platform that any manufacturer can take over, according to Forbes.
Still, the hardest part for the XO-3 may not be its lofty specs, but its $75 price tag. The original XO fell far short of its $100 price point at $199, and that was for a mere rethinking of existing laptop designs and components. The XO-3, by comparison, would have a more powerful processor than most laptops available today (assuming the 8-GHz spec is not a typo), require significantly less power consumption and use many technologies that are still prohibitively expensive.
Take, for example, Plastic Logic's Que e-reader, which is a real device that has similar hardware specs as the XO-3 concept. However, Plastic Logic has been reluctant to reveal the price for the Que, but it's become clear the all-plastic, super-thin e-reader will not be cheap. Then there's the JooJoo aka CrunchPad tablet, which was planned on hitting a $200 price tag, and is now selling for $500.
The XO-3 sounds like a great idea, but it's doubtful OLPC will be able to make its dreams a reality by 2012. But the group doesn't necessarily have to get all the way to its goal. Negroponte told Forbes if OLPC only achieves half of the XO-3 concept, the resulting device could be a game changer with far reaching consequences.
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