About a year ago the One Laptop Per Child project produced a tablet, that was supposed to offer the basic features of a slate on a low end touchscreen device. It was meant for developing countries all over the world and offering a budget price for kids and schools. That was the OLPC XO-3 tablet, that was supposed to retail at $100 a pop, but now the XO-4 is on the table.
The XO-3 was apparently cancelled, according to Network World. At least some of the technology of the prototypes will be put to good use, eventually reaching future products, regardless of their belonging to the OLPC segment or other tablet makers. Originally the XO-3 was supposed to be an ARM machine with a 1 GHz processor, an 8 inch Pixel Qi display at 1024 x 768 resolution and a rugged back with rubberized texture.
The XO-4 is expected to also be rugged and pack a low power display and processor. There’s a shipping date estimated for this product, sometime in 2013, but I can’t really assure anyone that this device will ever hit the market, since it could have the fate of the XO-3. If Datawind and the Indian government made it with the Aakash 1 and 2, why can’t the OLPC project make it?
