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Amazon and OLPC Work Fast Magic: XO Give One Get One in 30 Countries

On Wednesday, Amazon and the OLPC Project announced that the XO-1 laptop would be available for sale in the US as a "Give One, Get One" arrangement on November 17th. At that point, the OLPC said XO availability on Amazon storefronts in other countries was a possibility.

Today, it was announced that Amazon and the OLPC are opening the sales of XO laptops to 30 countries on Monday. This is the first time that these laptops have been offered for general sale outside of the United States and Canada.

IDG News reports that over 150,000 XO laptops were sold through the "Give One, Get One" offer that the OLPC offered on its website last year. The previous offer (again, only available to US and Canadian residents) was only offered for a two month period. This time, OLPC is launching it as an on-going program. It appears as though OLPC is using Amazon for not only a wider profile, but also to help manage order processing.

The XO laptops that are sold outside the United States and Canada to the general public will feature English/International keyboards (the laptops sent to children in developing nations are localized). Laptops sold outside of North America will feature European and UK power plugs.

The XO laptops can be purchased singularly, or as a bundled donation, with the "Give One Get One" prices estimated to be around $399 (€312, £254). There will be no VAT on European sales, but other taxes (and, of course, shipping) may apply.

More information on the XO Giving efforts outside North America is available on the OLPC wiki. In retrospect, enlisting Amazon's help in managing orders and distribution to the general public -- especially on a global scale -- seems a really wise move by the OLPC. Not only does it bring the program to more people's attention, it will ease some of the strain (and reportedly slow order processing) that the program dealt with last year.

• linux
• amazon
• olpc
• XO
• One Laptop Per Child

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