Flushed with a nearly 13-fold income jump in its first quarter, Lenovo hopes to extend its lead in China by targeting the country's poor, but expansive rural market.

The world's third largest PC maker announced today it will vend computers for as low as $200 to residents of China's countryside. China is the world's second largest PC market and rapidly expanding.

The PC will come with a keyboard, but not a monitor. Lenovo has opted to use the customer's television for a display instead. The system is expected to go on sale later this year with a price range of $200-$400. Currently, there are no details on the processor size or other features in the package.

While Lenovo has been eager to expand beyond the Greater China market - with moves such as the purchase of the PC division of IBM two years ago — there's still a lot of money to be made at home. About 70 per cent of China's people live in the countryside, but the average income is only about $560 a year.

Dell has previously announced a similar move. In March, the company unveiled a PC that retails between $335 to $520 for the Chinese market. Although Dell is well ahead of Lenovo worldwide, it lags behind in China. ®

Related stories

Laptops and developing countries drive strong PC growth (maybe) (25 March 2008)
IBM hands server tech to Lenovo (24 January 2008)
Lenovo debuts world's highest res 22in monitor (19 September 2007)
Chinese tech firm flirts with Seagate (28 August 2007)
Packard Bell jilts Acer for Lenovo (8 August 2007)
Dell to acquire ASAP (2 August 2007)
Lenovo profits soar (2 August 2007)
Lenovo swallows tasty profit (24 May 2007)
Lenovo pays Microsoft $1.3bn for software (10 May 2007)
Lenovo sheds jobs to increase profit (19 April 2007)