Scattered among the $500 to $1,000 desktop computers available at Walmart.com, one machine stands out. It doesn't have a unique design, but its price tag looks like a typo: $199.
Prices for consumer electronics goods, ranging from HDTVs to mobile phones, drop consistently, but few products have more potential to impact a person's ability to learn or find work than a computer.
The cheap computers -- sold beginning this week at 20 Illinois Wal-Mart locations -- are offered at a time when charitable efforts such as the "One laptop per child" program intended to provide portable computers for $100 to children in developing countries, have struggled to achieve results. That laptop will now cost $200, but the program has yet to deliver a product.
The computer for sale at Wal-Mart, on the other hand, can immediately put an affordable machine into the hands of anyone from students in low-income households to senior citizens on strict budgets, thus addressing the critical social issue of a so-called "digital divide" in the U.S. between those with access to computers and the Internet and those without.
"What this will do is make it affordable to have a computer, or even multiple computers, at home," said Mohsin Dada, assistant superintendent for business at the Schaumburg township community school district.
The computers do not include a monitor, but those can be bought for less than $100, and the price could encourage more families to buy computers, said Sharnell Jackson, the chief e-learning officer for the Chicago Public School system.
"This is a good thing for digital equity and digital excellence," she said. This effort will provide an "alternative for families. We need options."
According to a 2006 Chicago Public Schools survey, 72 percent of students said they use a computer at home. The remaining students have access !! to a computer at school, a library or at a friend's house.
The cheap price reflects Wal-Mart's buying power as the world's largest retailer and an aggressive gambit by a Taiwanese company that has carved out a niche at the low end of the computer market.
To get to $199, the company, First International Computer, had to forgo software made by Microsoft Corp. or Apple Inc. and try the little used open-source computer platform.
"There are $60 to $90 savings on every single computer sold just by getting away from the Microsoft products," said Paul Kim, Everex's director of marketing.
Open source software programs are developed using code that is available to anyone, typically free of charge. The most notable open-source platform is called Linux, and it has become widely used on corporate server computers.
But consumers, other than hobbyists, who use Linux and open-source software are rare.
Whether people are comfortable with open-source software, or even aware it exists, these computers ship with an array of familiar software: a Web browser, word processing, programs for presentations and spreadsheets, e-mail, instant messaging, and media-playing software for music and movies.
Even an iPod will work, said David Liu, the founder of gOS, the California start-up that built the open-source operating system the PC runs on.
The gOS operating system -- the "g" does not stand for Google -- has six Google applications loaded directly onto the PC. The "g" doesn't stand for anything, Liu said.
Those programs include Google's e-mail product, Gmail, as well a spreadsheet application, a calendar, maps, news and a direct link to videos on YouTube.
The so-called "gPC" will be sold online at Walmart.com and in about 600 Wal-Mart stores nationwide. The PCs have started arriving in some stores, said a spokeswoman for the Arkansas-based retailer.
"That's about one-eighth of our stores," she said. "It's a test of market demand for open source software. It's very limited."
At the Wal-Mart store in Princeton, Ill., one of the 20 in the state selling the $199 computer, an assistant store manager said the product should sell well, even if it lacks an operating system people are familiar with.
"For that price, our customers will want one," she said.
Al Gillen, an analyst who covers operating system issues for technology analyst IDC in Framingham, Mass., said the low-priced computers "could be disruptive" for the computing industry but more importantly it has the potential to expand the market.
"When you look at the people who take photos with their cell phones, it did not diminish camera sales," he said. "The photo quality is not good [with phones] but it enabled the adoption of a technology that was never addressed before. So the opportunity here is to serve a market that has never been served before."
Kim, from Everex, would not clearly define the target market for this computer. "It could attract both older people and kids," he said, adding that the affordability factor is a clear lure for low-income consumers.
Software programs are shown as icons on a bar that sits on the bottom of the computer screen, much like how the "dock" looks like on Apple's OS X operating system. Hence, users click on an icon, such as the one for Firefox that allows for Web browsing, and the application opens.
For it's part, Google supports the open source movement and encourages developers and consumers to experiment with its offerings.
"Our goal is to connect people with the information they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible," said a Google spokeswoman. "We're also excited to see that companies like Everex are making information more accessible to more people by building affordable, open-source PCs."
Yet despite the $199 price point, Gillen is skeptical that Wal-Mart will help spread the open-source software movement.
"The problem we've seen with Linux adoption as a consumer operating system is that it has not been big at all," he said. "It's not even a measurable market share at this point."
Plus, Wal-Mart has sold an open-source computer. In 2002, it tried to sell a $199 PC that used the Lindows operating system. But the PCs were poorly reviewed and there were compatible issues working with peripheral devices, ranging from printers to digital cameras. Gillen said those hurdles will need to be overcome with this effort.
"Are there adoption blockers here," he asked. "If there is any kind of updating or installation required, it could be a challenge. Will you be able to install driver software for an old HP laserjet printer? Or will you have to buy a particular printer to work with this device?"
To ease some worries, the "gPC" has a 1-year warranty and a 24-hour help line.
"We want people to accept this as a mainstream product," Liu said. "The operating system will continue to grow. There will be upgrades."
Dada, the Schaumburg educator, said a "$199 computer can level the playing field for a lot of people. We should make every effort that there is no digital divide."
ebenderoff@tribune.com
chicagotribune.com
