Dell plans new PCs for China, India

By JOE McDONALD

AP Business Writer

Personal computer makers increasingly are designing products with Chinese buyers in mind. Both Dell and China's Lenovo Group unveiled low-cost PCs last year for rural and novice users.

"This year, we plan to introduce 50 percent more notebook platforms than we introduced last year, including exciting new products aimed exactly at Chinese customer needs," Dell said at a news conference.

New models are meant to meet "specifically the requirements that we see in countries like China and India," he said.

Dell says its consumer sales in China grew by 54 percent last year, more than three times the industry average of 17 percent.

"When we look at the potential for expansion, we do see enormous opportunity ahead," Dell said. "As far as the U.S. goes, I think the U.S. will be OK, but not the fastest-growing. We expect more growth in Asia."

The company last month reported its fourth-quarter profit fell 6.4 percent and cautioned that more cautious spending by U.S. customers could hurt its business.

Dell says it has about 18 percent of China's market by revenue and 10 percent by number of units sold. Worldwide, it has a 16.1 percent market share, according to consulting firm Gartner Group.

In a bid for a bigger share of China's market, Dell broke with its Internet sales model and struck a deal in September to sell PCs through the country's biggest electronics retailer, Gome Group.

Dell's retail presence in China will expand to 1,200 cities by the end of this year, up from just 45 in 2007, said Amid Midha, Dell Greater China president, who appeared with Dell.

"By this summer, we will have more unique products coming to China," Midha said.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company has two factories in Xiamen, a southeastern Chinese city, and a design center in Shanghai that the company says is its biggest outside the United States. Dell said the company expects its purchases of components and other products in China to rise by 27 percent this year to $23 billion.

The company is undergoing a restructuring that Dell said has made growth in China "dramatically better" than a year ago.

Still, Midha said, "We have a lot of things to do before we can consider ourselves to be successful in China."

Also Thursday, Dell said it will donate $210,000 to build six education centers in China to teach computer skills to the children of migrant workers.

Dell shares rose 2 cents to $19.53 in premarket training.

Damnation of Her Ladyship: Heather's reputation shredded by 58-page judgment she tried to ban

Comments (131)

• Judge accuses her of blatant make-believe
• He says she 'tried to defraud Paul of £500,000
• And Macca? HE was accurate and honest

Heather Mills was yesterday labelled a serial fantasist.

The High Court judge who presided over her divorce from Sir Paul McCartney said she had a "warped perception" of the world and "indulged in make-believe".

Mr Justice Bennett said 40-year-old Miss Mills's evidence was "not just inconsistent and inaccurate but also less than candid".

He also criticised her "explosive and volatile character", saying she was "her own worst enemy".

His extraordinary 58-page judgment was revealed yesterday after Miss Mills failed to prevent it being made public.

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Heather Mills: The judge in her divorce case said she was 'her own worst enemy'

The Court of Appeal judged that it was in the public interest to end media speculation about the divorce settlement, in which Miss Mills was awarded less than one fifth of the £125million she had wanted from the former Beatle.

It confirmed many details from the court proceedings including Heather's claim that her life was ruined by her association with McCartney and her bombshell accusation that Sir Paul was possessive and jealous, abused alcohol and drugs and treated her "abusively and/or violently".

It provided an insight into the most high-profile divorce in recent years, setting out the wealth of one of the world's most successful musicians, and how Heather Mills, a former glamour model, battled unsuccessfully for a huge slice of it.

"Overall she was a less than impressive witness," the judge concluded on Miss Mills' attempt to fight her cause without lawyers, as a "litigant in person".

In contrast, Sir Paul was described almost as a model witness: "He expressed himself moderately though at times with justifiable irritation, if not anger. He was consistent, accurate and honest."

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Most damning, it was revealed in court how Miss Mills had attempted to defraud £480,000 from McCartney to pay off the outstanding mortgage on one of her properties he had already paid for.

In cross-examination, Miss Mills was forced to admit there had been no mortgage on the property and claimed she had confused the house with another.

On that point, Mr Justice Bennett wrote in his judgment: "In the light of her husband's generosity towards her, I find the wife's behaviour distinctly distasteful . . . it damages her overall credibility."

That generosity, showed court papers, included Sir Paul lending Heather's sister Fiona £420,000 for a house and buying Heather's PA Sonya Mills a £193,000 house.

He also showered Heather with jewellery and gifts of cash totalling as much as £500,000 in a year.

The judge said: "Heather suggests her husband to be mean-minded, which, having seen the husband in the witness box, I do not believe him to be."

Heather Mills gives the thumbs up after Tuesday's award but she will be a lot less happy after yesterday's revelations

Miss Mills claimed she had to put her own lucrative career on hold when she married Sir Paul - but the judge again simply did not believe her.

"I do not doubt that she modelled successfully and was a public speaker. But the investigation in this case of her assets and earnings as at 1999 when the parties met do not bear out her case," he said.

"I find that the wife's case as to her wealth in 1999 to be wholly exaggerated."

Central to Miss Mills's case was her argument that she in some way saved McCartney after the devastation of his first wife Linda's death from breast cancer.

In court Miss Mills said: "I was his full-time wife, mother, lover, confidante, business partner and psychologist."

But the judge concluded: "The wife described her contribution as 'exceptional'. I reject her case. I am afraid I have to say her case on this issue is devoid of reality."

The judge also suspected Miss Mills had gone on a spending spree after their April 2006 break-up in an attempt to exaggerate her spending needs.

In 15 months she got through some £3.5million, and asked for £3.25million a year. The judge awarded her just £600,000.

He lamented that if Miss Mills felt aggrieved, she "only has herself to blame".

He explained: "If, as she has done, a litigant flagrantly over-eggs the pudding and thus deprives the court of any sensible assistance, then he or she is likely to find that the court takes a robust view and drastically prunes the proposed budget."

He added: "It must have been absolutely plain to the wife after separation that it was wholly unrealistic to expect to go on living at the rate at which she perceived she was living."

However Mr Justice Bennett said Miss Mills was a "kindly person" who is "devoted to her charitable causes" and had shown great fortitude in overcoming her disability.

He said: "She has conducted her own case before me with a steely, yet courteous, determination."

Last night Miss Mills said the judgment was "outrageous."

She said she would not be giving any interviews but said the decision to publish her home addresses had affected her security and that of her daughter Beatrice.

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