A chicken in every pot and a computer in every Chinese home…
China already has more than 60 million bloggers within the ranks of the 150 million or so Internet users. That number may look small soon thanks to Lenovo (the company that bought IBM) and American based Dell.
Michael Dell has announced development and sales of a new computer with a starting price of about $335. He plans to market it in China first and then move on to lesser populated India and finally Brazil. The machine, designed in Shanghai will be customizable and can cost up to $517 USD.
Dell’s “EC280” model is looking to cash in on volume demand in the world’s second largest market and beyond. Smart thinking. It is good to see the West adapting to the China market instead of floundering like Google, Yahoo and others have done here using strategies unattractive to the Chinese. The Internet in China may well be the last real entrepreneurial frontier for a while and economic trend setters like Dell know it….Many companies have stayed out of the market because profit margins are low. Well, zero percent of nothing equals….
To compete with Dell, Lenovo, one of two companies with a firm grip on the PC market here, is partnering with Microsoft Corp. to offer a computer model that a consumer can buy via time payments. The up front cost for the PC is about $150. The rest of the buy will be financed by a bank loan. The loan gets paid back as the consumer buys usage cards that buy time on the machines, eventually paying it off–use it or lose it.
The market is about to heat up. Apple where the hell are you?
Now if we could just make food and medicine affordable….
But I digress…
4 responses so far
China will have the predominant user base with half of their population plugged-in, assuming over 35% of the total Internet user base. The web that we know today can not be the same web that will serve half of the population of China. Such a large user base will likely be quite influential to shift the technology to address their needs.
[…] Onemanbandwidth reports that Dell has plans to market a super cheap computer for countries with massive populations like China, India and Brazil. Dell’s “EC280″ model is looking to cash in on volume demand in the world’s second largest market and beyond. Smart thinking. It is good to see the West adapting to the China market instead of floundering like Google, Yahoo and others have done here using strategies unattractive to the Chinese. The Internet in China may well be the last real entrepreneurial frontier for a while […]
\”Apple where the hell are you?\”
Apple (Jobs) cater to a niche market. The closest thing you are going to get a low end PC from Apple is the Mini. Putting out a low cost machine would affect their \”cool\” image. Price and quality define Apples image; not low cost. Dells image is defined by low cost and that\’s it.
Sum it up: don\’t hold your breath. Jobs is working on his $500 iPhone.
Thanks Steven…
I cannot wait to see the i-Phone…I hope it will interface with things here…The service will probably cost a fortune…Blackberry comes in at $480.00 HKD for about 6 hours connect time a month…About 60.00 USD…ouch…