One Laptop plans to ditch the keyboard

Foundation expects its next-generation computer to cost $75

Email|Print|Single=20 Page| Text size =96 = + By=20 Hiawatha Bray

Globe Staff /=20 May 21, 2008

The Cambridge foundation that helped inspire the current boom in = cheap laptop=20 computers is now working on something even more radical - an ultracheap = computer=20 with no keyboard.

Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, = revealed=20 plans for the new computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology = Media=20 Lab yesterday. Due for release in 2010, the new machine will be smaller = and=20 lighter than the foundation's current XO laptop, which went on sale last = year.

But the new device will feature two video display screens, one of = them=20 replacing the keyboard found in other laptops. The screens will be=20 touch-sensitive, and can be configured to act as a traditional keyboard. = But the=20 screens can also serve as a single large viewing area.

"You can fold it flat and use it as one continuous display," said = Negroponte.=20 This would make it suitable for a variety of uses, from reading an = electronic=20 book to playing a game of chess.

The current XO laptop was originally supposed to sell for $100. = Though Neg=20 roponte still expects to reach this goal, the device presently costs = $188.=20 However, Negroponte said the foundation has set a target price of $75 = for the=20 next-generation laptop. He said that this could be achieved thanks to = falling=20 prices for flat-panel screens, the most costly of all laptop components. = Negroponte predicted that the price of the screens could be brought down = to=20 about $20 for each computer.

A veteran of the team that developed the original XO laptop, Mary Lou = Jepsen,=20 is working with OLPC to design the device. Jepsen holds a doctorate in = optical=20 sciences and invented the technology that makes the XO laptop's screen = readable=20 in bright sunlight. Jepsen left the foundation last year to launch Pixel = Qi, a=20 start-up that will make the screen technology available to commercial = laptop=20 makers.

Computer industry analyst Roger Kay, of Endpoint Technologies = Associates Inc.=20 in Wayland, said that a keyboard-less laptop might be less susceptible = to dust=20 and water damage - a serious threat in the impoverished communities = where the=20 laptops will be deployed. "Without a keyboard, you've got a much greater = ability=20 to seal the unit," Kay said.

But he noted that OLPC is trying to persuade governments in = developing=20 countries to buy the laptops and distribute them free to children. Kay=20 questioned whether the governments would spend millions of scarce = dollars on a=20 device that's so different from standard computers.

So far, OLPC has distributed about 600,000 of its current laptop = model. The=20 foundation's bid to create super-cheap laptops has inspired businesses = to market=20 low-cost laptops of their own, aimed at more affluent consumers. = Taiwanese=20 computer maker AsusTek Computer Inc. expects to sell 5 million of its = EEE=20 minilaptops this year, at prices ranging from $200 to $600. Hewlett-Packard Co. has also entered the market with a = $500=20 minilaptop.

Kay said that if OLPC succeeds in designing a keyboard-free laptop at = anywhere near the planned $75 price, it could spawn a host of similar = products.=20 "If nothing else, it stimulates a lot of other people to look at this = market . .=20 . and maybe offer competing products on a commercial basis."

Negroponte also said yesterday that the foundation will resume its = Give One,=20 Get One program, which enables people to buy two of the laptops and = donate one=20 or both to a child in a developing country. Negroponte said the program = will=20 resume in August or September and will be open to buyers in North = America and=20 Europe.

He said the previous program, which opened last year to people in = North=20 America, enabled One Laptop to distribute 30,000 additional laptops to = children=20 in Rwanda, Mongolia, and Haiti.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com. 3D""=20

One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte said falling = flat-panel=20 screen prices may help the group cut the price of its next-generation = laptop=20 computer to $75.

Target price