Does Rural Asia Need A Cheap PC?

Lenovo, fully-equipped with their 2005 acquisition of IBM’s Personal Computing Division, has announced their plan to sell $199 PC’s to rural China. The basic computer comes with a processor and keyboard, and plugs into the users television.

Some 800 million people live in China’s countryside, where incomes average about $560 a year but are rising at an annual rate of more than 10 percent. Lenovo said it will set up a rural sales network of 5,000 dealers to reach farmers and other customers.

Cheskin.com brings up an interesting point however asking, “Does rural Asia need a PC?”.

In emerging markets, it’s really a question about whether people will need a PC, as mobile phones pick up more and more ability to access the internet, do banking, get info (e.g. crop prices), etc. In India, the number of PCs connected to the internet are less than 5% of the number of mobile phones.

We think both Lenovo’s PC and Cheskin.com’s mobile phone argument really banks on the quality of mobile service in rural China…assuming Lenovo’s PC utilizes mobile service for an internet connection. We’ll see.

More at MSNBC and Cheskin.com.