Nicholas Negroponte and the OLPC XO laptop have received a lot of news this past year without much production of any machines. The latest news had come as a promotion scheme for the laptop looking to the generosity of US and Canadian customers offering a “Give 1 Get 1” deal. The promotion looked to the generosity of North American consumers and allowed them to buy the $100 (now $188) laptop for $400, getting one for them and giving one to a poor child in another country.

It appears now that production which was supposed to start in October will be delayed until November 12, which is also the day that pre-ordering the Give 1 Get 1 program would start. According to the OLPC, the delay will not only push back planned deliveries to Peru and Uruguay but will also not support the deliver of the promised 25,000 North American orders before Christmas. According to Mary Lou Jepsen, chief technology officer for the One Laptop per Child Foundation, some consumers will still get the XO before the holidays but it will be on a first-come first-serve basis.

The XO laptops are designed for use in rough outdoor conditions without electricity, and to be given to poor children in places where they would otherwise be unable to use a computer. The machine utilizes only 2 watts of power, has a string-pulley to charge up the batteries, a multi-language keyboard and a special screen that can be seen in direct sunlight. The foundation still plans to get 100,000 of the laptops produced yet this year.

Reuters