There is some considerable confusion brewing in the UK over the distribution of RDI Computer Corp’s BriteLite, the Sun Microsystems-compatible Sparc-based laptop. When development of the laptop was first mooted, a US company, Parity Inc, signed up as a sponsor for the project. PCS Ltd of Wakefield, Yorkshire, is the sole distributor for Parity in the UK, and, via this association, is offering the BriteLite with 8Mb RAM and 120Mb disk to end-users at a price of UKP7,000. However, the Basingstoke, Hampshire-based Unix distributor Frontline Distribution Ltd, has exclusive distribution rights for RDI Computer Corp in the UK. When the BriteLite came to fruition, RDI appointed US firm EMS Inc – which also has offices in the UK – as its worldwide maketing partner, and EMS subsequently gave the nod to Frontline to go ahead and sell the BriteLite in the UK. Frontline sells exclusively to resellers, and is offering the laptop to them at UKP8,900 – which makes it almost UKP2,000 more expensive for the same machine, in the same configuration, than the deal from PCS. You pays your money and takes your choice.
