Intel pulls out of OLPC

Intel has dropped its support for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, due to fundamental differences between the organisations’ approaches and directors, Intel chairman, Craig Barrett, and OLPC’s founder, Nicholas Negroponte.

Intel spokeswoman Agnes Kwan said the differences were “impossible to reconcile” because OLPC was demanding the end of Intel’s supply of the Classmate PC, which is part of Intel’s World Ahead programme and its own attempt to provide the developing world with education through providing technology.

The Classmate PC started shipping in March, and has received orders from countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Pakistan.

Kwan said Intel could not accommodate OLPC’s request because multiple solutions are needed to meet the vast needs of children in developing countries. “Also Intel has established relationships between OEMs, suppliers and governments and these are important to sustain,” she added.

Replacing Intel’s Xeon processors in OLPC devices will be rival AMD chips.

When Intel joined OLPC’s educational programme last July, the aim was to combine the two major attempts at providing low-cost laptops for the sake of delivering global progress. At the time, both organisations committed to making each other’s laptops better.

“Both parties have long histories and experience in this area and working together will expedite these efforts for the betterment of children around the world,” Intel had said on its web site.

However Kwan said although Intel joined OLPC because both organisations shared the same vision, there were too many differences between the groups for the relationship to be sustained. Recent rumours have revealed that although Intel was donating funds to OLPC, both organisations were in competition when making sales to governments.

The split with Intel follows on from other recent difficulties faced by the OLPC organisation. The laptop, although intended to sell at $100, is now priced at nearer $200. Meanwhile in November, Negroponte admitted that verbal orders he had made with governments were not being followed by funding.

More recently OLPC’s chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepson, has stepped down to pursue commercial interests and a Nigerian firm has demanded $20m from the non-profit organisation.

However Tony Roberts, Computer Aid International founder and director of development, said competition between groups endeavouring to bring laptops to children could bring more project success, lower priced laptops and increased numbers of manufacturers looking for ways to meet the needs of those in developing countries. Computer Aid works with a similar agenda to OLPC buts distributes refurbished computers for reuse in developing countries.

Simon Yates of Forrester Research said the marriage had been “short lived and stormy”.

“There were fundamental disagreements between OLPC and Intel that were not easy to resolve,” Yates explained, adding that the partnership was a “marriage of convenience” to overcome the bad publicity both organisations had been affected by.

Yates said that difficulties arose because OLPC had wanted Intel to abandon its own agenda in the developing world and Intel had wanted OLPC to use more processors of its own design.

Intel and OLPC are also driven by different motivations Yates said. “Intel concentrates on market opportunities and looks forward to the growth that will come from the emerging markets, whereas OLPC has a more moral defensive approach,” he added.

Negroponte’s “big personality” was also mentioned by Yates as a difficulty in the relationship. Yates concluded that Intel’s withdrawal is likely to be good for Intel, AMD and Microsoft, but bad news for OLPC. “Instead of two suppliers, OLPC now only has a single supplier.”

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