Microsoft pitches pay-as-you-go PCs

Want to write a Word document? Pay a few pennies. Want to download some digital photos? Pay a few more.

That’s basically the idea behind FlexGo, Microsoft’s latest attempt to make PC ownership more accessible to people in emerging markets.

Under the idea, which Microsoft is introducing this week, people would be able to get a PC for their home with a mechanism that charges them depending on how much computing they use. Consumers would pay for about half of the PC upfront and then, say, 50 cents or 75 cents per hour of use. After several hundred hours of paid use, they would then own the PC outright.

“The real goal of FlexGo is to make that dream of owning a full-featured PC a reality,” said Mike Wickstrand, director of product management in the market expansion group at Microsoft.

The exact finances of the program would vary, depending on a number of factors. These include the cost of the software and hardware being used, as well as the country’s prevailing lending interest rate. Microsoft has already tested the idea in Brazil, but plans to expand that program in coming weeks, alongside new trials in Russia, India, China and Mexico.

Full article: c|net News.com