Intel Bails on Kid Laptop Project

Feud over rival computer sales

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 4, 2008 7:51 AM CST

(Newser) – Intel has dropped out of its uneasy partnership with the "One Laptop Per Child" global nonprofit program, designed to put inexpensive computers in the hands of millions of children in developing countries. Intel has been feuding with project founder Nicholas Negroponte, an MIT professor on leave who developed the inexpensive XO computer that's the program's first machine, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Joint plans for a new low-cost laptop have been scrapped. Intel claims Negroponte demanded Intel stop selling its own low-cost computer, the Classmate, in developing nations, and stop supplying chips to other laptop companies targeting kids in those countries. "We can't accommodate that request," said an Intel spokesman. "We've reached a philosophical impasse."

[Images (3)]

[Videos (3)]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab Chairman Nicholas Negroponte. Intel has ended its uneasy partnership with his One Laptop Per Child project.(AP Photo/William B. Plowman, File) (Associated Press)

An XO laptop XO from the One Laptop Per Child Project. Intel had ended their partnership with OLPC amid acrimony. (AP Photo/Matthias Rietschel) (Associated Press)

U.S. children play with the XO laptop at OLPC Headquarters in Cambridge, MA An XO laptop XO from the One Laptop Per Child Project. Intel has ended their partnership with OLPC amid acrimony. (Courtesy... (Associated Press)

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Nicholas Negroponte Interview - One Laptop per Child (OLPC) (OLPCFoundation (YouTube))

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Demo (KamlaBhatt (YouTube))

Nicholas Negroponte talks about One Laptop per Child (gidsr (YouTube))

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Intel Bails on Kid Laptop Project