Publications
Publications
- August 2007 (Revised September 2008)
- HBS Case Collection
Marketing the "$100 Laptop" (A)
By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Abstract
In 2002, Professor Nicholas Negroponte, a successful venture capitalist, author, and co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, announced his intention to build a PC so cheap as to make it possible to provide Internet- and multimedia-capable machines to millions of children in developing countries. The concept--subsequently often referred to as the "$100 PC"--was launched at the Media Lab in 2003 before being spun into a separate nonprofit association, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), founded by Negroponte in January 2005. At the time skeptics, including technology industry leaders, argued that it simply could not be done. Through innovative design and technology, Negroponte and his team proved them wrong but struggled to sell the concept and the machines to the world's education ministries, who would be purchasing the laptops for their school age children. Furthermore, by 2007, many other low-cost PC options had emerged and OLPC had not started shipping yet, leading some observers to wonder if the non-profit should reconsider its strategy and options
Keywords
Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Developing Countries and Economies; Manufacturing Industry; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Cambridge
Citation
Quelch, John A., and Carin-Isabel Knoop. Marketing the "$100 Laptop" (A). Harvard Business School Case 508-024, August 2007. (Revised September 2008.)