Cherrypal

[3] The C114 (and following C120) desktop computers were originally developed by Tsinghua Tongfang (THTF) in its Shenzhen R&D center by an engineering team led by American electronics industry veterans Jack Campbell and Ryan Quinn.

[9][needs update] The Cherrypal C114 is a small, light nettop computer using a PowerPC-processor, the Freescale 5121e system-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated main-board, and Xubuntu as its operating system.

[12][13] The CherryPal C114 was a rebadged version of the LimePC D1 mini-desktop computer developed as part of a broader Freescale PowerPC chip-based product line by THTF's Shenzhen R&D center and shown to the public at the 2008 CES in Las Vegas in January 2008.

According to a blog post by Max Seybold, the device's specs in Cherrypal's web store were kept intentionally vague, because the Africa was not built to a set design.

The $99 computer was named Africa in honor of PAAJAF, a humanitarian services group based in Ghana, West-Africa.

Some commentators observed that Cherrypal arguably beat the heralded and much-better financed One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project to its goal of a $100 "laptop" [21][22][23] (such units are physically small: a Cherrypal unit for general purchase at $99 plus shipping has a 7" screen, an OLPC provided to a child in developing world at $199 has a 7.5").

[24] The company's business practices generated controversy and antipathy from some vocally dissatisfied customers, while others were marginally satisfied.

[28] Cherrypal said that it was committed to addressing the environmental concerns and the needs of impoverished countries[29] and in particular key sponsorship of a learning center in Ghana.