In a strategic shift to tap the lower-end market, Legend Group yesterday unveiled a national program to boost its personal computer sales in townships and rural areas, the Beijing Youth Daily has reported.

Optimistic about the huge potential of the undeveloped hinder mainland market, Legend aims to enlarge the sales in the rural areas to between 2-3 million each year, or a quarter of the country's total PC market, according to its president Yang Yuanqing. Currently, Legend holds 27% of China's PC market. This year, it expects the sales to reach 1 million, said Lv Yan, vice President of Legend.

The cheapest product of the rural promotion program sells for 2,999 yuan (US$363), and the other three choices each carry the price tags of 3,799 yuan, 4,299 yuan and 5,999 yuan. The products are only sold in Legend's sales network in smaller towns. To cut costs, the computers are equipped with the cheap AMD processors instead of the popular Intel chips. Legend has failed in its attempt to persuade Intel to lower the prices of its chips, according to a senior official with the company.