Back in October 2011 we launched a joint initiative with Dell in China to sell machines pre-loaded with Ubuntu through their retail stores. The stores featured Ubuntu on a wide range of Dell computers, carried Ubuntu branded marketing collateral in-store, had trained staff positioning the benefits and advantages of Ubuntu to consumers and were supported by a retail team of Ubuntu merchandisers, set up to support those stores.

Ambitiously kicking off with a goal of 220 stores, the response has been phenomenal – and we’re delighted to confirm that we’ll be expanding the number of stores in China to 350 and beyond over the next few months. Also, look out for great new point-of-sale materials locally designed and produced by the Dell China team.

Behind the scenes we’re also working on a number of cool initiatives in China – improving ways of bringing Ubuntu to you.

Today, we announced that we are now extending this exciting programme into, and across India. To help support the growth and demand in India the program will start with a widescale roll out to 850 stores across India. As well as consumers and students, the stores will target and service the growing number of SMB and corporate customers using Ubuntu across India.

Over the next few months we will extend the retail programme further into new markets, with the goal of providing greater choice of devices pre-loaded with the latest versions of Ubuntu and vastly improved quality of advice from staff in resellers.

As always, we’re delighted to hear your feedback and suggestions.