Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit yesterday, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte revealed that the group will "literally take tablets and drop them out of helicopters."

OLPC designed the 10-inch to be child-friendly. The tablet sports a Pixel Qi hybrid screen for both e-ink reading mode and a normal LCD for video, and will come preloaded with one hundred books. Apparently the tablet will also be able to survive a 30-foot drop and can be left out in the rain.

The XO-3 is inexpensive--projected to cost under $100--but hurling them out of a helicopter still seems a bit extreme.

Negroponte's approach suggests his confidence that the XO-3 is easy enough to use for children to just pick up without any instruction at all. He cited a supporting this hands-off approach to teaching children computer literacy. OLPC will check back in a year to see how the program's airdrop plan worked.

Worst-case scenario? "Maybe an older brother will get a hold of it, use it for pornography--that's life."