Talk:Individual sale?

Mr. Negroponte told me at Linux World Boston that there is a web page co-ordinating an effort to set something up for people who want to sponsor purchase of machines for the third world by buying machines at an artificially high price. I will attempt to retrieve the information and link it here. --Charlie

how many commercials versions ?

- Having tried out the Beta 2 XO recently I would easily pay as much as € 300,- for it. And I would be buying as many as I can for as many developer friends and children as I can as soon as I can. The OLPC is not going to be a cheap travel accessory for first world grown-ups. But it's an almost magical machine for developers and children alike.

As far as distribution is concerned, I would consider using something like Fulfillment by Amazon. You basically just send them the stuff to sell and they'll do the rest. It's actually pretty cheap but maybe somebody could negotiate with Amazon about the charges.

- Simon, Austria.

I may assume for USA $300 would be an ultra-chip model. Not for me in Russia.

I would surely purchase such a unit in Russia for $100-$150. I would think twice about $200. I would certainly ignore it for $300 - this is price for 2nd hand notebook. The onlky hardware change is to add usual dial-up modem. Perhaps removing card-reader to keep the same price/size.

To me this is laptop that i would not be too afraid of beeing stolen/broken. That i can take with me to any travel.

Raising the price above $150 to me is entering value ("value" is not money here) area of notebooks - and here OLPC instantly loose - it obviously has less value than a notebook. And i'd just don't need notebook for, say, travels - i would be afraid of loosing/breaking it. It would became cheap slow notebook and would not be OLPC any more

Though such a price may shrink margins so it will not be funding of OLPC project by such a retail version.

Idea on Preventing or Discouraging Resale

A common practice in our country is to provide the recipient or the parents of the recipients a recurring benefit for staying in a program.

In the case of the OLPC project, as long as a child continuously shows that he or she is using the laptop and has not sold it (i.e. bringing it to school, presenting completed homework on the laptop), the child or the parents will be eligible for further government support such as food allowances, health care or other benefits.

They would lose the benefits if they sold the laptop.

Jbdiego 14:11, 6 February 2007 (EST) (Philippines)

What if it gets stolen? -65.96.162.251 03:01, 25 March 2007 (EDT)

Article needs cleaning up?

The article (and this discussion page) are filled with pleas to release a commercial version of the laptop in first world countries, personal opinions on desired pricing models, and predictions that a black market will quickly develop. Isn't this the sort of thing that belongs in a newsgroup/chat room/message board? Also, since it seems to be increasingly likely a OLPC-based laptop will emerge, I think the name of the article needs to be changed.

How about we summarize desired pricing models, someone with knowledge of the OLPC project contribute info on the pricing models being considered (Negroponte has commented publicly on a "buy two get one" deal, but I'm sure it's not the only one being considered, and IMHO not the only one to be selected), and someone with an economics background add in what effects a first world commercial market would likely have on the inevitable black market that's bound to develop. --24.115.80.11 23:41, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

I have created a Pricing_Models page, perhaps other similar suggestions could be migrated there.

Way to limit resale and abuse

Some of this is definitely not original. Possibly all.

But I figured it was better to make the suggestion here in case no-one has thought of this (and hope it propagates somewhere if that's the case). I'll intend to look in again and check in more detail but that may not happen so if you come across this, please mutate it as necessary and spread it to more appropriate areas of the wiki....

Limit theft by making the laptops going to high risk areas specific to each child using a unique identifier code and a register of the kids to whom they're issued. That way if one goes missing it is easy to tell which one this is. Pair these laptop codes so that each laptop has a friend laptop and tie this into the email system so that the laptop has a permanent widget which allows one click emailing between the paired machines. Make it a feature of the 'Give One Get One' scheme that the two laptops can be tied together in this way. The pairing link between laptops increases the stigma of theft/resale and encourages cultural exchange and social awareness in the kids who use them. It also provides a means of encouraging 1st world parents to sign up for '1+1' scheme.