Who will provide the laptop?
OLPC is just an organization to help set up and oversee this project. It does not distribute free laptops but rather work with governments of eligible countries to provide the laptops to the children of those countries.
The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. Pricing is currently expected to start at around US$135-140 and the goal is to reach the US$100 mark in 2008.
Approximately 500 developer boards (Alpha-1) were distributed in summer 2006; 875 working prototypes (Beta 1) were delivered in late 2006; 2400 Beta-2 machines were distributed at the end of February 2007; full-scale production is expected to start in mid-2007.
Quanta Computer, the project's contract manufacturer, said in February, 2007 that it had confirmed orders for one-million units. They indicated they could ship 5-million to 10-million units this year because seven nations have committed to buy the XO-1 for their schoolchildren, including Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand and Uruguay.
Source: OLPC