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Microsoft to Provide Cheap Computers in Indonesia

Posted on: Sunday, 5 March 2006, 13:00 CST

Microsoft to provide cheap computers in Indonesia

JAKARTA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Giant software maker Microsoft Corp., through its Indonesian arm, Microsoft Indonesia, is planning to provide "affordable computer" packages, plus genuine software, to millions of Indonesians this year.

"We are looking at ways to offer personal computers (PCs) -- maybe including Internet access -- on a monthly installment basis, " visiting Microsoft Corp. senior vice president Will Poole was quoted Saturday by The Jakarta Post daily as saying.

Affordability has led to relatively low computer penetration in Indonesia, with the rate currently standing at only 4 percent, according to a report from the International Telecommunications Union.

Poole explained that Microsoft would collaborate with a number of consumer finance firms in order to reach people who would normally have no access to credit.

The scheme has already been tried out in Brazil, where Microsoft says a third of the applicants were those from the middle- and lower- income brackets "who could not afford computers otherwise."

In Indonesia, the scheme would offer computers, complete with Microsoft original software, at 40-60 percent discount on the normal price.

"A customer would only have to pay up to 300,000 rupiah (about 30 U.S. dollars) a month on a 24-month installment plan," he said, adding that the scheme would also focus on providing access to those living in "second tier" cities.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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