Govt pushes ‘people’s PC’ plan
JULY 12, 2004 (MT)—The government is working on a “people’s PC” program patterned after the successful Thai project that drove prices of desktop PCs and notebooks down in that country.
The goal is to encourage more people to use computers by making them more affordable, said Secretary Virgilio Peña, chair of the Commission on Information and Technology (CICT).
He told TechTimes the Philippine version of the program would probably focus first on desktop PCs for public schools.
“We have to develop programs that will bring down the cost, and I’m looking at the Thai model,” Peña said.
Peña was in Bangkok earlier this month to meet with his counterpart from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to discuss the Thai experience and see where it might be applicable to the Philippines.
Launched in May 2003, the PC project shook up Thailand’s computer market by driving down prices of desktop PCs to $250 and notebooks to $400, including the cost of software. In the project’s first year, the Ministry of ICT hoped to sell a million budget PCs to schools, public agencies and government employees. By the third quarter of 2003, PC sales had shot up 73.5 percent on a year-to-year basis, the research company Gartner Inc. said.
To encourage people to buy the PCs, the government also arranged easy-payment plans with local banks.
Peña said the Philippine project is still in its early stages, but he’s had initial discussions with PC manufacturers, including HP, to explore the suitability of the Thai model.
In Thailand, the minister of ICT met with local manufacturers of nonbranded PCs, or “white boxes” and gave them a $250 or 10,000 baht price point to qualify for the program. At that price, he said, the government would offer the PCs to schools, public agencies and offices and government employees.
“Effectively, what the Thai government was saying was, ‘Don’t worry about the marketing and distribution cost, because we will handle that,’” Peña said. “That brought down their price points and the manufacturing sector responded to it. In fact, even the branded companies were pressured to bring down their prices too. I think this is something applicable to the Philippines.”
Peña said it was still too early to talk about target price points for the local program.
In a separate interview, Intel Philippines country manager, Ricky Banaag, said his company would be keenly interested in supporting such a program. He noted that Intel had been a key driver of similar PC ownership programs in other Asian countries, including Thailand.
The president of a systems integrator and chain of PC outlets, Villman Computer Systems Inc., was cautiously supportive. Manuel R. Villaroman, president and chief executive officer at Villman, said the cheaper PCs would benefit schoolchildren but expressed uncertainty about whether the government would be able to pay PC vendors in a timely way.
Biggest impact
Despite the emphasis on hardware, the biggest impact of the Thai project may eventually be on software.
Microsoft, which had originally turned down an invitation to join the project, signed up in June 2003 and offered its Windows and Office software at greatly reduced prices. Its impetus was the Thai government’s decision to use open source Linux instead, on its budget PCs.
Announcing its decision, Micro-soft said it would offer PC buyers in Thailand a combined Windows XP and Office suite for just $35.80, the Bangkok Post reported. In other countries, Office XP alone costs about $400.
Analysts said the Thai program effectively reversed Microsoft’s “one-price-fits-all-markets” policy and could have a major impact on software pricing in other parts of the world.
In his recent visit to China, Microsoft Chair Bill Gates, said other low-cost versions of Windows would be available in other Asian markets.
- From the Manila Times