Support may hinder OLPC shipment growth

In line with concerns raised in a previous DigiTimes article, a recent Merrill Lynch report indicated that a lack of after-sales support may impede growth momentum for the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) project, with the investment firm indicating that the market is overly optimistic about OLPC shipment growth. With seven countries onboard (Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand, Uruguay) for participation in the OLPC program, shipments of the XO notebooks are expected to top 10 million units in the first year once the notebooks start shipping in July, with Merrill indicating Quanta Computer (the notebook’s ODM) expects to ship 4-5 million units this year.

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