In geek circles and indeed here at TeleRead, the big news these days is all coming from the CES show in Las Vegas. As far as the e-book world is concerned everyone seems to be following tablet devices—those being announced at the show and even those not being announced. But for those who are on the lookout for future technology that might actually change the way the world looks at e-readers, one of the more interesting stories seems to have overlooked completely because it’s not at the show.
Apparently the folks at the One Laptop Per Child program refuse to be discouraged by lacklustre sales of its original neon green tablet-cum-laptop aimed at developing countries. They’ve announced an ambitious plan to deliver a $75 tablet PC with an 8.5"x11 colour screen. Now, according to plans, the XO-3 won’t deliver until 2012. But most of the stuff announced at CES isn’t exactly shipping this week, either.
What’s interesting, especially from an ebook point of view, is the new system the OLPC project has committed itself to produce. Unlike a conventional e-book reader, it would be a full multi-purpose PC, meaning that along with displaying eBooks it could also surf the net, play videos and games, be a VOIP phone or run a word processor.
And unlike the Slate or iTablet or whatever is being announced or embargoed at CES, the XO-3 is planned to sell for $75—less than one-tenth the cost of a typical tablet. That could be a killer mass-market reading device if they can pull it off, and far more significant to the e-book world than anything that showed up in Vegas this week.
Here’s wishing the OLPC project some luck. They’ll need it.
Related: Previous XO-3 mentions in the TeleBlog.
