Intel Joins Low-Cost PC Effort
Intel Corp., with help from regional governments and telecommunications companies, is joining a race to design affordable computers for developing countries.
The chip maker yesterday announced an initiative called "Discover the PC," which will start with the distribution of a low-cost system in Mexico by the utility Telefonos de Mexico SA, or Telmex. Intel expects to work with partners who will distribute machines in other countries.
Intel is stressing the creation of "full-featured" computers, with a hard drive, Internet connectivity and other features that users in industrialized countries have come to expect. Other companies and researchers have proposed more stripped-down PCs or terminals for the developing world.
"Various other companies have tried to dumb down the computer and get to the point where it's not a fully functioning PC," said Mark Beckford, Intel's general manager for emerging markets. Such systems have limited appeal to users and don't provide the services that people can find useful in jobs and other settings, he argued.
But greater sophistication comes at a cost. Though the exact price will vary from country to country, Mr. Beckford said the system being distributed by Telmex may be priced at around $300 including a monitor, about 20% less than low-end PCs now available.
Nick Negroponte, chairman emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, has proposed portable machines that cost $100 as part of an initiative called One Laptop per Child. That design uses data-storage chips instead of a disk drive and features an optional hand crank for providing power in place of using an electrical outlet.
Hector Ruiz, chief executive of Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., is promoting another effort called 50x15, a title derived from the goal of connecting 50% of the world's population to the Internet by the year 2015. AMD designed a system for emerging markets called the PIC, for personal Internet communicator, which is distributed by utilities and costs about $180.
英特尔拟推出廉价PC
英特尔(Intel Corp.)得到了地区政府和电信公司的支持，参与到为发展中国家提供廉价电脑的竞争中来。
英特尔周四宣布将启动一个名为“发现PC”(Discover the PC)的活动，活动的第一项内容是由公共事业公司Telefonos de Mexico SA (Telmex)在墨西哥发售一款廉价的电脑系统。英特尔还将与其他国家的伙伴合作发售这种廉价电脑。
英特尔强调这是一款“功能全面”的电脑，硬盘、互联网连接设备以及其他装置一应俱全，和工业化国家的用户们使用的电脑没什么两样。相比之下，其他公司和研究人员为发展中国家开发的电脑或终端就简单多了。
英特尔新兴市场总经理马克?贝克福德(Mark Beckford)说，“其他公司都在努力简化电脑，以致于这难以称作是一台完全意义上的PC。”他说，这类系统对用户的吸引力有限，因为它无法为人们的工作和其他活动提供便利。
不过功能全面，成本也就相应增加了。虽然具体售价在各国并不相同，但贝克福德表示由Telmex销售的系统（包括显示器在内）售价约为300美元，比市场上的低端PC便宜20%左右。
麻省理工学院(Massachussets Institute of Technology)媒体实验室荣誉主席尼克?内格罗蓬特(Nick Negroponte)曾推出一款售价100美元的笔记本电脑，这是“一个孩子，一台笔记本”行动计划的内容之一。这款电脑使用闪存取代硬盘，还附有一个可用来手摇充电的摇柄。
英特尔的竞争对手高级微设备公司(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)首席执行长赫克托?鲁伊斯(Hector Ruiz)正在推动一项名为“50x15”的计划，这个名字来自于这个计划的目标：在2015年之前，让全球50%的人口接入互联网。AMD为新兴市场设计了一款名为“PIC”──即个人互联网通信设备的系统，该产品由公共事业公司发售，售价约为180美
