Need a Container-load of Small Cheap Computers? Call China’s Alibaba at Robert Pogson

Alibaba is expected to exceed sales of Amazon and eBay combined this year. It’s no wonder. Alibaba has a pipeline to China, the world’s manufacturer of everything from garden sprayers to small cheap computers. China has hundreds of OEMs who can produce thousands of whatevers weekly or monthly and they have their own brands or will rebrand as needed.

Check out some selected items:

8″ android tablet – minimum order quantity (MOQ) 50 units – supply ability 100K units per week
Poly-crystalline Solar Panel – MOQ 100 pieces – US $ 0.68 – 0.74 / Wp
1.2v1000ah Alkaline battery nife battery – MOQ 1 – mass 73Kg
Bulldozer – MOQ 1 – mass 17300Kg – 103 kw diesel power
LED bulbs – MOQ 10 pieces – supply ability 100K pieces/month – $USD5.98 – 9W lifetime 50K hours

For those who like to shop on-line, Alibaba is paradise. Too bad about the freight, though. A fellow I know recently ordered a rifle scope. It was a pretty nice unit at 10% of our local retail prices and it came with a name-brand that was not published in the ad… So there are some complexities but Alibaba facilitates connections between the world and China (and other countries, too).

Want a 21 inch all-in-one PC with GNU/Linux for $387? MOQ 10 but Christmas is coming and they would make dandy gifts.

Alibaba has also created its own */Linux OS, Aliyun that runs Android apps, HTML5, and JavaScript with links to Alibaba’s web services.

see China's Alibaba to pass Amazon, eBay in transaction value: executive | Reuters.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

7 Responses to “Need a Container-load of Small Cheap Computers? Call China’s Alibaba”

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1 Robert Thompson Sep 12th, 2012 at 12:23 pm

I made the comment here a couple of years ago that my bets were on the Shenzai to supply the world with best-in-class GNU/Linux computers and some Microsoft troll made fun of me. Who’s laughing now?
2 Carla "Ink" Eaton Sep 12th, 2012 at 4:22 pm

Quantity over quality, I guess. Wish they sold a container of the cheap refrigerator I have that keeps breaking…
3 oiaohm Sep 12th, 2012 at 7:56 pm

Robert Thompson they are because reality has not caught up with them yet.
4 oiaohm Sep 12th, 2012 at 8:29 pm

Carla “Ink” Eaton
–Quantity over quality, I guess. Wish they sold a container of the cheap refrigerator I have that keeps breaking…–
Lot of cases if it comes Alibaba you can find the real maker. Lot of cases they can tell you who to order the replacement part from.

Problem is with shipping and the price of replacement container for likes of small bar fridges is more than the full fridge. Volume transport discounts and mass production discounts.

There is a real need for functional 3d printers to produce plastic spare parts for a lot of items.
5 Thorsten Rahn Sep 13th, 2012 at 12:07 am

I made the comment here a couple of years ago that my bets were on the Shenzai to supply the world with best-in-class GNU/Linux computers and some Microsoft troll made fun of me. Who’s laughing now?

Okay, so we have to order our “best-in-class GNU/Linux computers” at Ali Baba? I always thought they were sold in the electronics store around the corner. GNU/Linux computers are apparently not. Good to know. Seems like Microsoft is still laughing.
6 oiaohm Sep 13th, 2012 at 4:26 am

Thorsten Rahn not correct electronic store around the corner if they are a custom builder from parts does do Linux. Does not give you all the custom built stuff the direct order from china does. Where you can customise the parts integrated into a motherboard. I have a few motherboards with on-board UPS. Walk into a normal computer store and ask for that. They are not your normal ATX motherboards. You will find most don’t know the makers that will provide them.

Alibaba is where you find all the true china OEM makers showing there wares. They don’t bother that much with trade shows. Trade shows are extra overheads.

Really Microsoft is not laughing that much. Alibaba ships globally directly so making it mostly incompatible with MS OEM licensing setup.
7 Robert Thompson Sep 13th, 2012 at 7:57 pm

Thorsten,

No one at Microsoft is laughing. They know what’s coming.

I’m laughing because all the independent manufacturers in Shenzen need is a warehouse in Kansas!

Many US retailers will fail in the coming years, because the US economy is contracting. This trend will last for several more years. There won’t be corner stores that sell computers. Everyone in the US will buy on price from Alibaba and its competitors.

The real volume markets are the BRICs. They are driving the Shanzai to continually increasing volume and profits. Those profits will finance the eventual expansion of the Shanzai into less important, mature markets like the US in a major way.

A few years ago, Panasonic and Sony were the major electronics brands. Today, it’s Samsung and, well, Samsung.

Watch and learn.