Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, stated that the intention of the company is to target developing countries. According to Intel, in the next 10 years the market in developing countries for low-cost laptops will reach between 500 and 700 million units. So, it will be a huge market, although Intel will make only a few dollars per unit.
The war drums in this segment are now becoming louder. Over the past few months Negroponte has openly criticized Intel. He has accused Intel of trying to block the OLPC program, pointing out that OLPC is a non-profit program. Negroponte claims Intel is upset that OLPC laptops use CPUs from AMD, which is Intel’s competitor.
However, the competition will no doubt result in lower prices, and if Intel Classmate can be sold for less than $150, then Negroponte’s goal will be achieved, that is, a laptop that is affordable for every student. (Reyhan Fabiano)
The Jakarta Post, December 11, 2007
