Taiwan-based original design manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc. has been chosen as the ODM for the $100 laptop project sponsored by non-profit organization One Laptop Per Child.

Quanta has agreed to devote significant engineering resources from the Quanta Research Institute (QRI) the first half of 2006, with a target of bringing the product to market the fourth quarter.

The launch of 5 to 15 million units will be both in large-scale pilot projects in seven culturally diverse countries (China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand), with one million units in each of these countries, and an additional modest allocation of machines to seed developer communities in a number of other selected countries. A commercial version of the machine will be explored in parallel.

Source: InformationWeek