A brutal price war is raging among Korean PC makers, particularly those supplying the low-end of the domestic market, prior to the Ministry of Information and Communication entering the market to distribute super-cheap PCs as part of its Cyber Korea 21 project.
Just a few months ago the average price of a PC was about 2m won ($1,670) but since TriGem Inc fired the first salvo in the price war prices have plunged to around 600,000 won ($500). Cheaper models supported by the Ministry will hit prices even further, analysts say.
Last month TriGem shipped 50,000 units of its 400Mhz Celeron model, Dreamsys EZ 6400S, which comes with 32MB memory, 4.3GB HDD, 32X CD-ROM drive and 56Kbps fax modem, for 990,000 won ($825) while Daewoo Telecom has dropped its price even lower on a similar model which was selling for 2.5m won ($2,080).
