[Olpc-open] open purchases

[Charbax]

I think Walmart or some other big reseller should buy 1 million units and
resell them with little margin over e-commerce websites to all of their
markets.. Walmart could probably make money buying 1 million units for 130$
each and reselling them directly to end consumers for about 150$ + taxes,
stocking, distribution, guarantee which would make it cost around 200$
retail..

Education is great, but I think that an adult version, with larger keyboard,
larger screen, iVDR port (a port for optional removable hard disk drive)..
Even if all those additions cost 50$ more..

The core OLPC team probably shouldn't take any of their time away from the
Educational OLPC, but some commercial companies should do it, by just using
the published patents. The terms should be something like "The company
should also open source whatever development they make on the commercial
adult XO PC" and "The company should never practice evil tactics on any of
the phases of eigther production, distribution or sale, meaning do not use
DRM, do not use Monopolistic tactics, do not prevent competitors from
working in the same direction, do not negociate exclusive component
supply.."

The point is, that with commercial versions available in the developped
market, this can also speed up the open source developpments, even though
it's probably going very fast already. Probably that optimizations, new
software ideas, new usages, and the effectivity of the system can possibly
be improved if having a million commercial units also floating around among
adults and even business people in the developped world.

On 1/13/07, Xavier Alvarez <xavi.alvarez at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Sorry to burst your bubble but apparently the "Buy 2 Get 1" idea
> was never so...
>
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ask_OLPC_a_Question#Is_the_.27buy_2_and_get_1.27_scheme_going_to_happen.3F
>
> and
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Talk:News#News_Story_on_BBC_news
>
> From what I read, all this buzz and spin is more wishful thinking
> by enthusiasts wanting to see the project turn into a reality
> than any real or concrete ideas that the OLPC is having.
>
> At best, any effort towards creating a consumer product out of the
> OLPC will just generate a tiny fraction of the expected demand by
> governments: tens (if not hundreds) of millions of units... not
> many products sell in those numbers... and catering to consumer
> demands is a real nightmare (as seen in the laptop industry in
> general).
>
> My 2cts,
> /X
>
> PS: I could be wrong! I would also love the opportunity to buy one
> myself! :)
>
> On Saturday 13 January 2007 13:33, John Kintree wrote:
> JK> I'm glad that OLPC project is considering ways for open
> purchases of the laptop.   This would result in a greater
> quantity ultimately purchased, which would lower the per unit
> costs for everyone, and would provide a greater incentive for
> developers and peripheral manufacturers to write applications
> and drivers for the laptop.  Given the superior
> price/performance of the laptop, as long as the preference for
> children in developing nations is maintained, there is no reason
> to deny the laptop for other people of all ages and locations.
> JK>
> JK> There might be arrangements for two types of purchasers:
> individuals and institutions.  For individuals, the "buy 2, get
> 1" arrangement makes sense.  For institutions, such as local
> school districts, it might be "buy 1,000, get 750," since the
> per unit order processing and S&H would be lower for
> institutional customers.
> JK>
> JK> Finally, the model adopted by commutercars.com to fund
> development of their two-passenger, electric car is interesting.
>   Individuals can place the amount of the estimated purchase
> price into an escrow account.  If and when sufficient interest
> and funds are in the account to proceed, commutercars.com spends
> the money; otherwise, the money is refunded to the people who
> were willing to pay in advance.
> JK> Best wishes,
> JK> John Kintree
> JK> http://home.swbell.net/jkintree/islt/
> JK>
> JK>
>
> --
> XA
> =========
> Don't Panic!  The Answer is 42
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>



-- 
Charbax,
Nicolas Charbonnier
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