One blogger decided to try to be honest and buy a legal copy of Windows XP in China, and found out the hard way that honesty just wasn’t going to pan out.
So off I went to the nearest 电子城 (dianzi cheng, Electronic City) to pick me up a copy of Windows XP. I was determined this time that I would buy a “real” copy, as I expected if I were to purchase a fake it’d only lead to more computer headaches in the not-so distant future.
So I arrive at Electronic City and start chatting the sales lady:
Me: Do you guys have an English version of Windows XP?
Lady: Yes, please wait a moment. Please, sit sit sit.
(lady goes behind a mountain of cardboard boxes, comes back)
Lady: Here you are. 15 yuan.
Me: I was just wondering, how much for a “real” version of windows? I should really buy that one, I think.
Lady: Well, we don’t have it here, but it would surely be more than a thousand RMB.
Me: Holy Windows Batman!
Lady: 什么？
Turns out the price the saleslady quoted was actually only half of the actual retail price, which is closer to two thousand RMB. That puts the price of XP in China between $125 and $250, reasonable in the U.S., not so much in China, where the GDP per capita is $1,700, compared to $41,800 for the U.S..
Perhaps that’s the exchange rate Microsoft should be looking at if it wants legal Windows to become popular in China.
They can’t compete with 15 yuan (about $1.89), but if they dropped the price in China to something like 100 yuan, that would at least be reasonable for many people who just can’t afford the same prices we can.
Increased sales would make up for the price drop anyway, so what’s the harm? Just don’t let the product activate outside of Chinese IP addresses.
(via Frank Yu)
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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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