By Winston Chai
Friday, May 21 2004 06:39 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/personaltech/0,,39180153,00.htm

In a bid to increase the response towards its "People's PC" project, the Thai government will soon sell low-cost computers at selected convenience stores across the country.

The decision to enlist 24-hour convenience shops as a distribution channel stems from the lukewarm response towards the second phase of the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) ministry's budget PC movement, according to the Bangkok Post.

Unlike the flagship program in 2003, the second phase of this campaign, launched in March this year, required businesses and consumers to trade in their old computers in order to purchase a new Pentium 4 2.6GHz machine at 13,900 baht (US$341) or 17,290 baht (US$423), depending on the choice of bundled software, the report said.

The requirement proved to be unpopular and was eventually scrapped last month. With this move, anyone can now buy the new PCs at post offices country-wide by topping up 1,500 baht (US$37) to the trade-in price.

However, most people are still unaware of the policy change, said Prateep Uersakcharoenkul, president of the ACTM (Association of Thai Computer Manufacturing), the organization managing this low-cost PC drive.

"The problem is that the awareness of the second project is low, especially when compared to the first low-cost PC project from last year. People also still think that they need to have an old PC for trade-in," Uersakcharoenkul was quoted as saying.

"We needed to find a new strategy so we came up with the idea to have a distribution channel that is next to the consumer," he added.

To widen the project's reach, he said the computers will now be sold at around 2,250 7-Eleven stores and True Shops--a local retail chain--in Thailand.