Microsoft selling PCs, prepaid style

Those Microsoftees like to distance themselves from the PC hardware biz in the States, only just skirting it with their MSN TV 2 (pictured) and Xbox units, but in Brazil they're jumping into the market with a system of prepaid PCs for low-income buyers. They've teamed up with local retailer Magazine Luiza, and have already done a test run of the method, which involves prepaid cards in exchange for computer use, and once the user has paid the full price of the unit ($351), they own it. Sounds suspiciously like rent-to-own, but they've been rather successful with it, so maybe that hipster-style "prepaid" terminology is paying off.

[Via The Raw Feed]