Be sure to notice that these computers don't come with a cd rom. It is
extra money. Ports to plug in devices such as speech synthesizers,
scanners, and braille embossers may be limited.
kelly
from the New York Times
March 29, 1999
Maker of Inexpensive Computers Reports a Flood of Orders
By LAURIE J. FLYNN
Richard Latman believes there is no such thing as a free lunch --
or a free PC.
That, he said, is why he is selling the Webzter Jr. personal
computer for $299 (not including a monitor, which he will gladly
sell you for an additional $99).
Photo credit: Daniel Sheeham for The
New York Times
Photo caption:
Richard Latman's Seattle company, Microworkz Computer, offers a $299
PC intended for people who want access to the Internet.
_________________________________________________________________
And at that price, Latman is getting orders for more machines than
his 49 employees can churn out.
When his Seattle company, Microworkz Computer, announced two weeks
ago that it would sell inexpensive systems without ads or gimmicks,
his phone lines and World Wide Web site were quickly jammed with
inquiries and orders.
"There's no free PC," he said. "It's a fallacy in the mind of Bill
Gross."
He was referring to the widely covered announcement by Gross'
FreePC.com, a start-up company that plans to give away computers to
people willing to have the PCs continuously display ads aimed
specifically at them. Becoming eligible to receive one of the Gross
PCs, though, involves filling out a personal questionnaire -- and
not everyone who registers will get a PC.
"Would I ask a million people for personal information so I can use
it to sell to them?" Latman said. "No. I don't believe in that."
Latman said he had already received orders for 50,000 of the $299
machines, which he intends to start shipping on April 19.
To meet the demand for the Webzter Jr., Latman plans to add 80
employees and another 60 contract workers to assemble the machines,
which use a Cyrix 300 MII chip and various off-brand components,
include a 3-gigabyte hard disk and 56 kilobit-per-second modem.
Microsoft Windows 98, the industry-standard operating system that
retails for about $100 and comes already loaded on most more
expensive personal computers, is not included with the Webzter Jr.,
which is promoted primarily as a Web-surfing device. (Windows 98
does come with the $99 CD-ROM drive that Microworkz offers as an
attachment to the Webzter Jr.)
With a profit margin only about $36 per PC, it will take a lot of
sales to turn this into a successful business. But Latman, a former
bond trader at Merrill Lynch, insists that it can be done. And that
is not the only point, he contends.
"Profitability is great," he said. "But the question is, how do we
put computers in the hands of all the children?"
Part of the affordability equation, he said, involves software. So
Microworkz is trying to strike deals with software publishers to
include free versions of their programs with these starter PCs, in
hopes of creating future paying customers. The Corel Corp., for
example, has agreed to offer its Word Perfect software as part of
the deal. And the Internet service provider Earthlink Network is
using the future-customer rationale to offer Microworkz users a
free year of Internet access.
Latman insists that his company will work through its backlog, so
that everyone who has ordered a $299 PC so far will get one. By the
end of the year, he hopes to be able to meet demand in this country
and start marketing abroad.
"We want to be the hot toy under the Christmas tree this year," he
said.
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
|
