Lenovo Targets 800 million customers with $199 PC

Lenovo Group, the world's third largest PC maker, (HP is #1, Dell is #2) has a $199 PC that it wants to sell to China's rural market – some 800,000,000 of them.

The PC has a processor and a keyboard and hooks up to the user's television monitor. Finally, something useful will come out of the tube.

More serious versions of the PC will go for $399. (1,499-2,499 yuan).

Families in China's countryside have an average income of about 4,200 yuan. However, their incomes are rising at an annual rate

of more than 10%.

Lenovo plans to set up a network of 5,000 dealers to reach the farmers and others living in the hinterland.

In March of this year, Dell began offering a basic desktop PC designed for China and priced at US$223-US$515. 

The winners will be the 800 million Chinese out in the boonies.

Next up…who's going to bring Internet access to the countryside?