Microsoft hopes the pay-as-you-go computing model will make computers more accessible to less affluent users, by enabling them to obtain computers through prepaid usage-card purchases. Microsoft has been running trials of the program in Brazil for more than a year, and will soon expand the program to India, Russia, China, and Mexico, it says.
The pay-as-you-go program is modeled after the typical mobile phone usage model in emerging markets, Microsoft explains. Data from Strategy Analytics and Gartner suggests that between 72 and 90 percent of cell phone users in those markets obtain their devices and communications services on a pay-as-you-go basis, Microsoft says.
Microsoft's
FlexGo technology for PCs consists of three key components, according to the company:
- A full-featured PC with modifications that enable metering of usage time and protection against tampering
- Operating system modifications that allow customers to purchase PC time in small increments
- A provisioning server system that validates the payment and delivers payment packets to the PC
AMD is apparently working with Microsoft to craft a similar program for the PIC, based on Windows CE.
About the PICThe
AMD PIC is a small, low-cost device that runs a customized version of Windows CE on an AMD Geode GX processor. With a target end-user price point of $185, the PIC is intended to expand global access to the Internet and basic personal computing. It is a key component of the company's "
50x15" program that aims to equip 50 percent of the world's population with affordable Internet access and computing capability by the year 2015.
AMD's current delivery model for the PIC is similar to that of the cable set-top box market in the U.S. -- it is generally supplied as loaned equipment, in conjunction with fee-based services, in this case Internet access. With the exception of an arrangement for sales through Radio Shack in the U.S., the PIC is not offered as a retail product, according to the company.
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