Low-cost tablet computers to boost third-world education

High-performance devices will "enable educators, students and families around the world to create their own content and learn to read, write and create their own education programs," says One Laptop Per Child.

By Andy Goldberg

San Francisco (dpa) May 27, 2010 -- Love the iPad but can't afford its 500-dollar price tag?

Help is on the way from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, which on Thursday promised to launch a 75-dollar tablet computer next year.

The XO-3 tablet device will be based on a processor from Silicon Valley company Marvell that uses just a single watt of power while still supporting full high-definition video on a 23-centimetre multi-touch screen. The device will initially run Google's open-source Android operating system and will feature wi-fi, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity as well as a built-in video camera.

The purpose of the XO-3 is to "enable educators, students and families around the world to create their own content and learn to read, write and create their own education programs and share all of these experiences via a mesh network model," according to the OLPC.

"While devices like e-readers and current tablets are terrific literary, media and entertainment platforms, they don't meet the needs of an educational model based on making things, versus just consuming them," OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte said in a statement.

"Today's learning environments require robust platforms for computation, content creation and experimentation -- and all that at a very low cost."

Founded in 2005, the OLPC's mission is to boost third-world education by providing children with cheap, rugged and capable laptops. However it has never reached its goal of a 100-dollar laptop, with prices hovering closer to 200 dollars.

Copyright: dpa