Last Updated: Sunday, 22 July 2007, 23:09 GMT 00:09 UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908946.stm

[excerpt]

'$100 laptop' production begins
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop
is poised to go into mass production.

Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production
of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost
machines.

Previously, the organisation behind the scheme said that it required
orders for 3m laptops to make production viable.

The first machines should be ready to put into the hands of children in
developing countries in October 2007.

"There's still some software to write, but this is a big step for us,"
Walter Bender, head of software development at One Laptop per Child
(OLPC), told the BBC News website.