Intel Pull Plug On Their OLPC Support

The main challenge for the OLPC team was meant to be finding enough orders for their developing-nation laptops, but ructions between them and their hardware partners may be an even bigger struggle.  Intel, who have both sat on the OLPC board and were possibly set to provide the processor for the PC, have resigned their position and withdrawn all technical and financial support after OLPC asked them to cease promoting rival low-cost laptops.

"OLPC had asked Intel to end our support for non-OLPC platforms, including the Classmate PC, and to focus on the OLPC platform exclusively.  At the end of the day, we decided we couldn't accommodate that request" Chuck Molly, Intel Spokesman

Intel's own Classmate PC had earlier come under attack from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte, who had accused the chip maker of selling their device at a loss so as to steal customers away from his own version.  Despite the fact that the XO-1 uses an AMD chip, Intel have denied that this affected their involvement in the project.

OLPC are yet to comment, and the long-term implications of Intel's withdrawn support are as yet unclear.

BBC News [via Smart Mobs]