Washington ( CNN ) -- As e-book readers and tablet computers become more common , one prominent tech mogul says that physical books could disappear sooner than expected . In an interview with CNN 's Howard Kurtz on `` Reliable Sources , '' author Nicholas Negroponte , founder of One Laptop per Child , said the physical book 's days are numbered . `` It will be in five years , '' said Negroponte . `` The physical medium can not be distributed to enough people . When you go to Africa , half a million people want books ... you ca n't send the physical thing . '' Negroponte emphasized the efficiency of being able to put hundreds of books on the laptops his organization sends to villages . `` We put 100 books on a laptop , but we also send 100 laptops . That village now has 10,000 books , '' he said . CNN iReport : Have you replaced books with an e-reader ? Share your story . When it comes to making e-books standard , Negroponte thinks that developing countries may actually be faster than developed countries . `` That 's what cell phones did , '' Negroponte said . `` Cell phones were more popular in Cambodia and Uganda because they did n't have phones . We had phones in this country , and we were very late to the table . They 're going to adopt e-books much faster than we do . '' Negroponte founded One Laptop per Child in 2005 with the goal of providing one internet-connected laptop to every school-age child in the world . Through the help of industry insiders , the organization created the XO , a lightweight and durable laptop . For $ 199 , it 's possible for individuals to buy a laptop for a child in the developing world through the website www.laptop.org/en/ .
The physical book 's days are numbered , author Nicholas Negroponte says . `` The physical medium can not be distributed to enough people , '' he says . It is too expensive and the cost of distribution has become prohibitive for many publishers. "