CNN.com - Technology - A 'Blue Light' special shines on Kmart's PC


The True Blue PC has a 633-MHz Celeron CPU, and can be purchased alone or with a monitor and printer

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November 7, 2000
Web posted at: 22:40 HKT (2240 GMT)

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November 7, 2000
Web posted at: 9:40 a.m. EST (1440 GMT)

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by Tom Mainelli

(IDG) -- Here's your shopping list for a trip to Kmart: tube socks, blender, crayons, latest National Enquirer, and a PC.

Yes, a PC. The venerable discount chain and its online retail partner BlueLight.com will market the BlueLight True Blue PC via the Web site and at most Kmart stores.

The True Blue PC sells for $500 and has an Intel Celeron 633-MHz processor, 32MB of memory, a 7.5GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, and a 56k modem. It comes bundled with Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Works. LG International manufacturers the PC.

You can buy the PC solo or with a monitor and printer, says Dave Karraker, a spokesperson for BlueLight.com. Throw in a 15-inch monitor and a Lexmark color printer, and the entire bundle sells for $650 (after a $30 rebate). Or you can buy the monitor separately for $129 or the printer for $49, he says.

BlueLight.com also offers a few online-only configurations of the PC bundle, he says. An upgraded version of the PC with 64MB of memory sells for $550 at the site, and a 17-inch monitor is available for $199.

For an extra $60, you can lay hands on the BlueLight PC Companion Kit, Karraker says. The kit includes a one-year extended warranty on the PC, a miniature vacuum to clean the PC's keyboard, a mouse pad, a ten-foot USB printer cable, quick-clean monitor wipes, and a trial subscription to an Internet magazine.

The True Blue PC is available in 1600 of Kmart's 2164 stores, and it should hit the remaining stores by early next year, he says. However, if customers need to return PCs for whatever reason, they can take them to any Kmart store--even one that doesn't sell them yet, he says.

Kmart's first PC in a decade

The True Blue PC is the first PC Kmart has offered in its stores since a trial run with the Amiga PC in the 1980s, Karraker says. Since then, stores have offered only accessories such as printer cables. Kmart planned to join Wal-Mart in selling the $299 Compu-Dawn PC last year, but that deal fell through.

The reintroduction of PCs to the Kmart lineup should be good for both the store and consumers, he says. Kmart's electronic departments should draw more people and sell more PC accessories, he says.

For customers, it's a chance to buy a decent PC at good price, he says. The price tag isn't low enough to make it purely an impulse buy, but it should entice people who are unsure of trying a PC and the Internet, he says.

"This is to get Mom, Dad, and Junior online," he says. Also, it may lure them to BlueLight.com. Kmart owns 60 percent of the separately run online retailer, which launched in December 1999. Earlier this week the company relaunched the site, and it now carries over 200,00 items for sale, he says. Most Kmart stores stock about 75,000 items.

BlueLight.com also offers a popular free Internet service. Marketed largely through Kmart stores, which see traffic of over 30 million people weekly, Kmart claims that less than a year after launch it has more than 5 million subscribers.

CNN.com - Technology - A 'Blue Light' special shines on Kmart's PC

Kmart's first PC in a decade

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