Medison, the $150 laptop co, holds press event to quell scam fears

Insist it's all true, will start shipping 15th August

6 August 2007 9:45 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Medison, the company behind the $150 "Celebrity" laptop that recently made headlines but was subsequently debunked by online forums and blogs as a scam, has held a press conference in Sweden.

The company's managing director, Valdi Ivancic, and other staff met with ten Swedish journalists to try and undue the damage caused by the claims the offer, too good to be true, was fraudulent.

Medison insisted that the laptop offer was real and that they would start shipping on 15 August. They claimed that have received "thousands" of pre-orders.

2Checkout, the American company that handles their e-checkout has promised that no money will be withdrawn from a customer’s account before a product has been shipped.

The famed $150 product was on display (pictured, right) and Ivancic answered questions from the journalists about the product.

He dismissed suggestions that it looked identical to a Taiwanese manufacturer's product and would not reveal who the manufacturer partner was:

"Medison has a partnership with a manufacturer with whom I was in contact with as recently as last night. We have decided not to reveal which company it is, because it could damage their relationships with other companies. It has been said that it could ruin the market for part of our competition."

It was revealed that a shipping charge will be extra to the $150 cost, something not made clear on the site. Also discussed was how Medison could afford to charge such a low price.

Most of the income is going to come from adverts on the site. Ivancic said that they would be charging anywhere between $15,000 dollars and almost three million dollars for a spot on the site.

Apparently at the end of the conference, Valdi Ivancic toyed with the credibility they may have gained from the press event by declaring an interest to run as Sweden's prime minister.

"I have considered declaring my candidacy for Prime Minister. As an independent ... It sounds strange and ambitious, but nothing is impossible."

Except maybe reassuring the world you are genuinely offering a $150 laptop...