November 1st, 2007
Can Google and Wal-Mart break the Microsoft desktop monopoly?
Despite the great hype, both here and elsewhere, over Everex’ new “Google PC” this may be less than meets the eye.
Or it could be more.
It may be less because the Everex gPC TC2502 is not much of a computer. It runs a 1.5 MHz processor, with just 512Megabytes of RAM and there’s no monitor. It looks, in fact, like a stranger from the mid-1980s.
A version of the same PC, running Windows Vista, was released in July for $298, also through Wal-Mart, as a back-to-school item. This is the picture we ran with that story. The New York Times ran the same picture with its story today.
But the price point here is just $199, and it does run Open Office, and there’s no reason why, if this does well for Christmas, Everex couldn’t bring out new versions which are more attractive, even laptops.
The GOS (Google Operating System) being shipped is actually just a version of Linux licensed through Google, which includes fast access to things like Google Mail, and Google Documents (although you can also run Open Office for that).
The keys to the story, of course, are the brand names — Google and Wal-Mart. Combine Google’s branding power with Wal-Mart’s distribution and you have a very mighty force indeed.
But what happens when these buyers need tech support, as they will? Will Wal-Mart handle the back-end of these transactions well, or poorly? Is Everex scaled to handle it? Who’s going to connect these things to the Internet, which seems like an essential service for them? What happens when these poor buyers get the bill for that service?
And if it does turn into a Christmas fiasco, will the companies get another shot at the market?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 11/01/07
