14 DAY TRIAL // The desktop and laptop manufacturer and vendor announced that it will start producing and selling a basic computer system setup that is aimed at China's poor but very vast rural market. In order to be affordable by the average Chinese farmer, these desktop computers will be priced at $199. According to the news site Engadget.com, the Chinese hardware manufacturer will not be "left behind" in the pursuit of dominance on the "poor rural Chinese market", even if until now Lenovo was more interested to expand its market share abroad.
It is possible that Lenovo's decision to address the poor rural market comes as a response to Dell's interest in expanding its market presence in China with a "low-cost personal computer meant for novice Chinese users", according to the site NYTimes. The market research firm Gartner Inc. said that PC sales "grew by 23 percent last quarter" in China, so Lenovo's interest to expand on the Chinese market is understandable. ''Our focus is to get down to the rural market,'' said the Lenovo company's spokesman Jay Chen cited by NYTimes. Even if Chen denied that Lenovo was simply responding to Dell's initiative to sell a basic desktop PC for a price between $223 and $515, the Chinese company that acquired IBM's PC division in 2005 prepares a computer that is more cheaper and less advanced than the competition's.
''It's a natural evolution. We are not responding to our competitors,'' Chen said. ''After three years of market development in low-tier markets we have gained experience and understanding.'' Their basic computer comes with a keyboard and some pre-installed software but with no monitor, so a separate display must be purchased or a TV set must be used. Until now there are no other data about the hardware features of this basic PC that is expected to hit the Chinese market later this year.
As China has a high percentage of its population living in rural areas (as high as 70 percent according to some sources), there are a lot of money to be made from this booming market and Lenovo is planning on setting up a "a rural sales network of 5,000 dealers to reach farmers and other customers".