Though the OLPC initiative currently going on is a very noble effort, its target is mostly developing and third-world countries where little to no technology exists. Intel and Asustek however, are looking to bring an inexpensive laptop to schools, emerging markets, and people who are broke as a joke.
Asustek will manufacture and sell the laptops under the Classmate PC line of notebooks Intel currently offers to schools. The $199 notebooks will feature an Intel CPU, either a 7- or 10-inch screen, Wi-Fi, a solid-state drive, and Linux or Windows XP. There’s no word on whether the general public will be offered these cheap laptops, but if Asustek and Intel were smart, they’d market them to low-income households who can’t afford a computer or Internet. A release date has yet to be announced.
Asustek and Intel working on $199 laptop [Yahoo! News]