Computerworld

Google denies low-cost PC claims

The LA Times has sparked an international wave of rumours that Google Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will launch a low-cost PC with a Google-made OS at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas -- but it's just not true, the search giant told Macworld UK Wednesday morning.

Google representatives in the U.K. denied the LA Times report as "wholly inaccurate", stressing the company's good relationships with existing PC makers.

Speaking to Macworld UK they said: "We have many PC partners who serve their markets exceedingly well and we see no need to enter that market."

The LA Times reported on Sunday that the purported Google PC could cost as little as a couple of hundred dollars because it would not use Windows.

Google co-founder Larry Page will deliver a keynote address on Friday at CES. Analysts "suspect" Page will use the high-profile forum to: "Show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine," the LA Times said.

A Wal-Mart spokesperson also called the report: "A rumour without any truth to it at all."

Bear Stearns last month did speculate that Google will release 'Google Cubes' -- small hardware boxes that will allow users to move songs, videos and other digital files between their computers and TV sets.