Everyday low prices - Wal-Mart presents the US$498 Laptop

People criticise Wal-Mart for their labour policies. They also say that it is due to Wal-Mart and the tremendous pressure on prices that outsourcing has taken the form it has taken already.

Playboy called Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., “the epicenter of retailing's Evil Empire.”
They are the largest company in the world. Slate writes that their revenue represents 2.5% of the US GNP. When founder Sam Walton died in 1992, Wal-Mart had 1,714 stores, 371,000 employees, and US$43.8 billion in annual sales. Last year, Wal-Mart had US$244 billion in sales. With 1.38 million employees, Wal-Mart is the world's largest private employer.

But whatever it is, they are faithful to their promise: "everyday low prices."

Now, they are doing it again - together with Linspire they are producing a US$498 Laptop.

It is Linux-based, and "features a VIA C3 1-GHz processor, 128MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and a 14.1-inch liquid crystal display. The software includes a built-in firewall to protect users from viruses, spam and pop-ups." It sure will put pressure even on companies such as Dell. Its market surely is the low-end user and it will probably rapidly penetrate into rural areas or households with less purchasing power. But why not? There is a huge market in that segment, that cannot afford the Dell's and HP's.

What are your thoughts about this?

(By Asia Business Consulting)