<font color=orange> Does anyone know where MyTurn.com is getting these old AMD 486 chips?
____________________________________________________________
MyTurncom Licenses Brazil's TCE to Sell Cheap Home Computers
New York, Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- MyTurn.com Inc., a U.S. developer of a $299 personal computer for home use, said it awarded TCE of Brazil a license to manufacture and sell as many as 750,000 units to Brazilian consumers.
Terms weren't disclosed. MyTurn.com Chairman Michael Fuchs, while not revealing what the computer will cost in Brazil, said it will ``obviously be priced lower than any other Windows-based computer in the market.''
TCE, a six-year-old consumer electronics maker and distributor based in Sao Paulo, is the first international licensee of Alameda, California-based MyTurn.com. MyTurn.com started selling its GlobalPC in chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, six weeks ago.
The TCE contract is part of MyTurn.com's plan to sell cheap, easy-to-use PCs to consumers worldwide as either a first computer or an ``appliance'' to use for electronic mail. U.S. customers already have various options, including getting a PC for free provided they sign up for Internet access with a monthly fee.
``There's very small PC penetration in Brazil,'' Fuchs told the Bloomberg Forum. ``Price point in Brazil is a much more sensitive issue than it is in the U.S.'' MyTurn.com and TCE are negotiating with Internet access providers in Brazil, he said.
In the U.S., GlobalPC customers get their Internet access from Genuity Inc., which was divested by GTE Corp. just before its merger with Bell Atlantic Corp. to create Verizon Communications.
HBO
Fuchs, 54, who was chief executive of Time Warner Inc.'s HBO satellite entertainment channel for 11 years until 1995, said he's applying the lessons he learned in building up the cable channel to MyTurn.com. The channel now has about 36 million U.S. subscribers and joint ventures in 45 countries.
``There's an enormous number of people who are not using computers,'' he said. Noting that only 45 percent of the U.S. population has a computer at home, ``nothing can convince me that the other 55 percent doesn't want to be a part'' of the Internet revolution. The desire is universal, he added.
Besides Brazil, Fuchs said, his company is targeting licensees in India, China and other developing countries.
The GlobalPC relies on an old-model 486 chip manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the U.S. semiconductor giant. Its GEOS operating system is licensed from Geoworks Corp.
TCE will manufacture the GlobalPC in Brazil under contract for distribution to 1,200 electronics retailers, Fuchs said. GlobalPCs sold in the U.S. are manufactured by electronics contractors in China.
Aug/23/2000 16:49 ET
For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here.
(C) Copyright 2000 Bloomberg L.P.
Any redistribution of Bloomberg content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Bloomberg L.P. Any reference to the material must be properly attributed to Bloomberg News. |
