Mary Lou Jepsen, former chief technology officer of the One Laptop Per Child project, has spun off a company called Pixel Qi in the hopes of creating a $75 laptop.
Jepsen was the brains behind the OLPC’s sunlight-readable display and had a hand in the development of various power saving features. Pixel Qi and the OLPC project will work amicably, as Pixel Qi has offered to “give OLPC products at cost, while also selling the sub-systems and devices at a profit for commercial use.”
So will a $75 laptop really be possible? Maybe, but let’s all remember that the OLPC was supposed to cost $100 and after all was said and done, it settled at around $186. Perhaps we might be looking forward to a $139.50 laptop from Pixel Qi instead.
Whatever the case, it’ll be interesting to see this company develop. They’re located right down the street from me here in Boston (I think) so I’ll see what other information I can rustle up over the coming months.
Pixel Qi [Company Website] via The Boston Globe