Michael Dell
Dell, still the world’s second- largest maker of personal computers which is something that is often forgotten, will sell PCs to China’s farmers, seeking to boost sales from a potential market of 800 million rural residents as the global recession affects demand in its traditional markets.
Dell has 15 computer products it will sell to rural consumers in China, a market that makes up 5% of the company’s global business which, again, will surprise many. This was announced by the PC maker’s Greater China President Amit Midha at a briefing in Beijing.
The Texas-based company aims to tap China’s plan to hand out RMB20 billion ($2.9 billion) of subsidies this year for farmers to buy home appliances as the government seeks to drive up consumption to revive the world’s third- biggest economy.
Dell last month reported fourth-quarter sales fell 16% which was not as predicted by analysts.
At the briefing Michael Dell, who is a very pleasany chap, said: ‘China is likely to emerge faster than any other country and grow stronger. The Chinese government’s stimulus plan will have a positive impact on boosting demand.’
Bloomberg reported Dell as saying global demand for computers has stabilized, three weeks after market leader Hewlett-Packard said technology demand won’t improve for the rest of the year.
Researcher Gartner said Global PC shipments will drop 12% this year, the most ever, as customers hold off purchases during the recession, Until now, the worst drop was in 2001, when shipments fell 3.2 percent.
Michael Dell said ‘Week-on-week, the demand for PC sales has been steady.’ He also said he expects to see ‘encouraging’ demand from the public sector in the U.S. although he did not elaborate.
Dell said the company bought $23 billion of equipment and supplies from China last year.