Intel has made its biggest deal yet for its Classmate PC – the low-cost notebook that has competed with One Laptop per Child and nComputing in bringing affordable computing to the classroom.
It is providing 500,000 Classmate PCs to the Portuguese government for its primary school population, with units already arriving in time for the new school year.
Intel is also providing technology support for the “Magellan Initiative” as part of a long-term programme.
Intel said the government liked the Classmate PCs for their ruggedness, software availability and design for that particular age group. It said Portugal had looked at different options but it is not clear whether OLPC or nComputing were in competition with Intel.
Intel works with local manufacturers to make the Classmate PC, it now has 100 vendors in more than 50 countries.
I remain a little confused about how it sees this business. There seems to be a mixture of philanthropy, extending its brand in emerging markets and priming the pump for adoption of its low-power processors in low-cost laptops for the masses.
Arguably, it no longer needs to do this, now that Asus has led a charge of manufacturers into low-cost laptops with its eee PC.
The Classmate PC received an upgrade in April with a sleeker, more rugged design and better battery life for a selling price of around $350. Its new Atom microprocessor should be included in units later this year.
“This is a great example of how the Classmate PC can be used in mature markets,” Lila Ibrahim, vice president of Intel’s emerging market platforms group, told me, citing the growing reach into countries such as the US, Germany and Italy.
“It shows the range of emerging and mature markets we have and the scale and momentum that has happened over the past few months.”
