On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 5:54 AM, Josh Cogliati <jjcogliati-o...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > I am curious why OLPC does not sell XO-1s? > If they were sold at about 250 - 300 dollars, there would be roughly a 50 - > 100 donation for OLPC, and then the price would be reasonably competitive > with other netbook prices. Also, I would recommend selling an XO-1 for about > 50 dollars more that included a solar panel charger as well as the regular > wall charger for a unique selling point. >
First, I do not work for OLPC and this is my opinion only. It could all be glorified hogwash :-) OK, now that's out of the way, selling a product takes a lot more than sticker price. The sheer logistics of selling, support, maintenance, etc. will take energies away from OLPC's focus. Keep in mind, what you get from G1G1 is not a sale, but a "Thank you" gift for donating $399 to a registered non-profit. That means, this is not a product you bought. Its just like a hat or a tote bag you may get from your local radio station for donating to their cause. > I know the original G1G1 program ended because the logistics were taking up > too much time. As I understand it, the second G1G1 program ended basically > because not enough were being sold. > This is largely incorrect. Donation programs thrive in the last three months of a year, because we usually get generous as it gets closer to tax season. We look for registered charities/non-profits to donate to, and shed the load because Uncle Sam will take it away for sure! So, the program begins in Nov and ends Dec 31. I would be very surprised if it *didn't* happen again this year. > I know that OLPC is not in the laptop business, but they still managed to > produce the best kids laptop that I know of, and the best laptop to take on a > camping trip. > Indeed. Yet, its their mission, not their market. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-M77C2ejTw > Is there any particular reason OLPC is not to selling them? It would provide > at least some money, and with Amazon doing the distribution probably not > cause that much of a distraction to OLPCs main mission. Think of it this way. What if Dell started doing what OLPC did and neglected its current market channels? They'd sink like concrete. cheers, Sameer -- Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Information Systems San Francisco State University San Francisco CA 94132 USA http://verma.sfsu.edu/ http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ _______________________________________________ Olpc-open mailing list Olpc-open@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open