Dell, following IBM and others that have seen their most pronounced growth in emerging markets, is reporting booming sales in Asia-Pacific:
"Dell experienced 41% unit growth in Asia Pacific and Japan region" in the fourth quarter, said Mr. Dell, who is also founder and chairman of the world's second-largest personal computer maker. Mr. Dell said that in the fourth quarter the company's laptop business in the Asia Pacific grew more than 70%. Industry research firm IDC estimates that the laptop business is growing about 21% year-over-year in the region, he said.
This is great for Dell, and eventually should be great for open source. Asia Pacific hasn't been a booming market for commercial open-source vendors, but increased penetration of computers should provide fertile ground for the software to match them.