By Ding Qingfen (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-18 15:16

About 50 families, 11 percent of the villagers, now have a PC branded Lenovo, Haier or Founder, so that they can study online and watch daily trading information nationwide. Other villagers are also considering the plan.

Price is their biggest concern when it comes to purchasing a PC. "The cheaper, the better," Yao says.

Growing opportunities

Yao Village is an example of what has occurred in other areas covered by Intel's programs.

Since July 2006, the programs have gone through rural communities and schools from Guangdong Province to Henan Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"What we want to do is make farmers' lives more productive and more efficient, and technology is the key," Barrett says.

Just as the programs begin to take effect, there comes the rural-oriented computer drive launched by Intel and Haier last September.

Haier set up a PC manufacturing base in Henan, which is expected to have an annual output volume of more than 300,000 units. Intel plans to donate 6,000 such PCs to farmers in five provinces including Guangdong, Sichuan, Shandong, Heilongjiang and Henan.

Compared to urban residents, Chinese rural customers have far less to spend on PCs and aren't much interested in music downloads, blogs or gaming, but they care whether they can get real benefits at a low cost and whether they can easily get the right information.

Intel says the program's design comes after a one-year study of 50,000 farmers from Henan, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces and will be cost-saving and farmer user-friendly.

China's rural area, which account for about 60 percent of population, is where Intel wants to gain ground against AMD.

In China, the world's second-largest PC market, Intel still enjoys a considerable lead, but AMD is narrowing the gap.

According to market research company International Data Corp, in 2006 Intel's chips were in 92 percent of laptops compared 7.5 percent for AMD. But thanks to a partnership with Lenovo, AMD is gaining ground in the desktop segment, which accounts for two-thirds of the PC market. AMD has grabbed a 30 percent share, forcing Intel below 70 percent.

What adds to Intel's unease is that AMD is taking an early step in rural expansion. Last August, AMD announced it would join hands with Lenovo, working on countryside computers using AMD chips that sell at 1,499 and 1,999 yuan, cheaper than Haier's, which range from 2,000 to 2,500 yuan.

But Barrett insists price should not be the only consideration for farmers. "What they are looking for is a computer that solves their problems and is easy to use," he says.

"There are many different choices. Intel has an education philosophy that access to hardware is important, activity on the Internet is important, rich educational content is important, and training teachers so that they can practically use the Internet in the classroom is important."

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