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The $100 PC? by Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac November 14th 2006
With components like processors, motherboards and monitors selling for as little as $25, $15 and $25, respectively, the ultra-low-end PC is within striking distance and vendors may be eyeing the possibilities. The move has been mooted for a while the $100 laptop initiative, which put cheap laptops with mono LCDs into developing countries was the tripwire. Desktops sold in developed country markets could hit this price point as well. But analysts are sceptical about the target market. People who build their own white box PC have bought cheap off-the-shelf components for years now. But for now the targets are developing countries, like Brazil, Thailand and Argentina and big Taiwanese names, like Quanta, are getting on board. Intel and Apple, too, have indicated their interest in selling portables into these markets at $400 or $500 price points. Analysis: The question is whether this would lead to grey markets in re-imported PCs. Selling to governments directly may prevent floods of private buyers starting up their own small businesses re-exporting back to, say, the US, but portables which undercut domestic models could find a market. It could even spawn an illicit market. But it's more likely that desktops and PCs for these markets at low prices would be very low end models and unattractive to both consumers and enterprises who can get factory-backed, well-equipped models for only a few hundred dollars more. But it points the way for markets like China, where the profits will be in volumes, not margins.
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