Miami's Brightstar is distributor for "$100" laptop

You may know it as the "$100 laptop"... even though it costs roughly $188. It's the XO laptop that the One Laptop per Child non-profit organization is trying to get into the hands of children around the world. Today the organization announced that Miami-based Brightstar will be the exclusive distributor of the laptop. Here's a brief I wrote about the announcement -- I'll be interviewing the CEO of Brightstar later this afternoon:

BY BRIDGET CAREY
bcarey@MiamiHerald.com

Miami-based Brightstar is the exclusive distributor for the green and white XO laptop, the inexpensive notebook computer for the non-profit One Laptop per Child, the organization announced Thursday.

One Laptop per Child is a project created by Nicholas Negroponte and others from the MIT Media lab to get inexpensive laptops with Internet access to every child in the world, with a focus on helping developing countries. The goal is to have them eventually priced at $100 each, but as of now they cost roughly $188.

"To really affect the program you need an organization that knows distribution logistics," said Robert Fadel, director of finance at One Laptop per Child. And Bright star has experience with doing business in 49 countries.

Bright star has been a partner of One Laptop per Child since July of 2005. The private company specializes in the global distribution of wireless and consumer electronics. The company reports that one out of every 20 wireless phones in the world is delivered through Brightstar's network.

The organization has a "Give One, Get One'' program, where people in the U.S. and Canada can buy two for $399 -- one for the customer and the other goes to a child in a poor country. The promotion starts November 12 and will last for two weeks.

The XO laptop has built-in wireless network capabilities and the battery can be recharged by hand using a crank, a pedal, or a pull-cord.