Dell to bring Ubuntu laptops to 850 retail stores in India

Dell will sell laptops running Ubuntu in 850 stores across India
Source: Canonical Canonical and Dell have announced that new laptops pre-loaded with the Ubuntu Linux operating system will be sold in retail stores across India. These systems will include the Dell Inspiron 14R and 15R laptops, and will be part of the initial "widescale roll out" to 850 retail outlets from Thursday 21 June; new models are expected to be added later in the year.

This isn't the first time that the two companies have worked together on this kind of roll out: in October 2011, Canonical and Dell launched a retail program to sell notebooks pre-loaded with Ubuntu across 220 Chinese retail locations. In a post on the Canonical Blog, Global Alliances Director Mark Murphy says that the number of stores in China has now risen to 350 and will continue to grow in the coming months.

As in the Chinese roll out, the retail locations in India will have Ubuntu-branded marketing collateral and staff trained in "explaining the advantages of Ubuntu to consumers". In addition to traditional consumers and students, Murphy says that the stores will target small to medium businesses and corporate customers.

"A founding principle of Ubuntu is to make computing more accessible", said Canonical CEO Jane Silber, adding that, "By working with Dell to bring these machines to market, we're providing millions of people with the opportunity of an affordable, high-quality computing experience – in some cases, for the first time." Over the next few months, the retail program will, Canonical says, be extended into other new markets.

See also:

• Dell announces prototype development laptop with Ubuntu, a report from The H.

(crve)