CBQ, Inc. (China Business Quotient) (fka CBQI)

[Da !]

By the way, there is now news coverage on NewsFactorNetwork.com:

http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/?id=12852

U.S. Company To Import Chinese Computers

By Tim McDonald
NewsFactor Network
August 16, 2001

Chinese companies have sold computer components in the U.S., but have not yet sold computers in quantity.

Hunt Valley, Maryland-based company CBQ said Thursday that it plans to import Chinese personal computers, laptops and Internet appliances that will sell up to 40 percent cheaper than their equivalents in the U.S.

CBQ, which has been working primarily on software development services in China for U.S. clients, said it has agreements with two leading Chinese computer makers.

"The price differentials are stunning," CBQ chief executive officer Bart Fisher told NewsFactor Network. "It's going to make what is already a very competitive market more competitive."

Fisher said that CBQ has agreements with Legend Computers, the biggest computer maker in China, and Superior Computers, a smaller, privately-owned company in Bejing that makes notebooks.

Go Figure

Legend sells computers in Europe -- and has seven European offices -- as well as motherboards in the U.S. It has the largest share of the Asian-Pacific computer market, excluding Japan, according to research firm IDC, and recently opened an office in Freemont, California, Fisher said. Superior has previously sold monitors in the U.S.

Legend has a more than 30 percent share of the market in China, a country with nearly 1.5 billion people.

"They have a near-monopoly, but there's not much room for expansion, percentage-wise, for them in China," Fisher said. "They will have to export, so they're looking at the U.S. market, trying to figure it out."

Many Chinese companies have sold computer components in the U.S., such as motherboards and monitors, but have not yet sold computers in significant quantity.

Cheaper Laptops

Legend was started by the Chinese Academy of Scientists in 1984. Fisher said he toured the company's factories and claimed the quality of workmanship was impressive.

"There's a lot of inspection that goes on," he said. "The machine may stamp the motherboard, but the fact is it all has to be inspected by hand. In the 1960s, people made fun of the Japanese (products), saying it was junk, and you saw what happened with Japan. I'm sure people will denigrate the Chinese, too, but the fact is they'll find their computers work just great. There's no reason they can't sell here. They sell in Europe."

Fisher said the companies would offer laptops, such as those that now sell for around $1,300 in the U.S., for around $800.

Chinese at Comdex

There is no timetable yet as to when the Chinese computers will become available in the U.S. marketplace, but Fisher said both Asian companies will be at November's Comdex computer conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

CBQ, which provides a variety of e-business technology services through its subsidiaries, earlier this week established a software development consortium in China.

The company recently hired Capital Suisse Securities as consultants to help with its move to the American Stock Exchange. Last year, CBQ merged with ChinaSoft, the private industry partner of the state-owned software development companies, and with Quantum Technology Group.

As of March 31st, CBQ reported total current assets of $1,734,000.