OLPC extends low-cost laptop sale

The low-cost XO laptop sell-off has been extended to the end of the year, after the programme has seen donations averaging $2 million (£1 million) a day.

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) has said its Give One Get One (G1G1) programme will not end on Monday as originally planned, but continue to 31 December.

For $399, people in the US and Canada - OLPC has so far said it will not ship overseas - receive one of the low-cost, ruggedised XO laptops, while another is sent to a child in the developing world.

"In the past 10 days, we've experienced an outpouring of support from the public that is truly gratifying and encouraging," said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of OLPC. "Because so many people have asked for more time to participate either individually or in order to organise local and national groups to which they belong, we have decided to extend Give One Get One through the end of this year."

He added: "We want as many people as possible to have the opportunity to act upon the giving spirit of the holiday season."

The laptops donated through the G1G1 will go do a child in countries such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia and Rwanda.

Negroponte said that following the end of the programme, OLPC will move to a donation-only scheme, suggesting this is the one and only time the XO laptop will be available to the general public. "During this extended period we will solicit input and transition to a program of giving only at the beginning of 2008," he said.

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