BOSTON - A COMPUTER developed for the world's poor children, dubbed 'the US$100 (S$146) laptop,' has reached a milestone: It is now selling for US$200.

The One Laptop per Child Foundation, founded by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte, has started offering the lime-green-and-white machines in lots of 10,000 or more for US$200 apiece on its Web site (http: laptopfoundation.org/participate/givemany.shtml).

Those laptops are for purchase by donors who designate where they are to be sent through a program recently launched by the foundation to help finance the product's launch.

Two weeks ago, a foundation executive reiterated recent statements that it cost US$188 to build the computer, up from its US$150 price tag in February and an original US$100 price.

It was unclear why the price of the machines in the donor program described on the OLPC Web site was above that US$188 cost, and the foundation declined to elaborate.

The laptops are scheduled to go into production next month at a factory in China, behind their original schedule and in quantities that are a fraction of Negroponte's earlier projections.

It is unclear when the machines will be ready for customers, as the Web site said version 1.0 of the software that runs the machine will not be ready until Dec 7.

When Prof Negroponte said he could produce the laptops for US$100, industry analysts said it had the potential to shake up the PC industry, ushering in an era of low-cost computing.

He hoped to keep the price down by achieving unprecedented economies of scale for a start-up manufacturer, and in April, he told Reuters he expected to have orders for 2.5 million laptops by May, with production targeted to begin in September.

But that has not panned out. So far the foundation has disclosed orders to three countries - Uruguay, Peru and Mongolia. It has not said how many machines they have ordered.

Wayan Vota, an expert on using technology to promote economic development who publishes olpcnews.com, a blog that monitors the group's activities, estimates orders at no more than 200,000 laptops.

'One-hundred dollars was never a realistic price. By starting with an unrealistic price, he reduced his credibility selling the laptop,' Mr Vota said. -- REUTERS