Firm’s Catch to Getting a Free PC Puzzles Some

Thousands of people who want to take advantage of Free-PC.com’s offer to give away 10,000 computers to people willing to share personal information are befuddled by the way the Pasadena start-up is accepting applications--on its Web site.

“It doesn’t make sense to me that to get the PC, you have to have one,” said Thomas Olley, a would-be customer in Apple Valley, Calif., who doesn’t have a computer at home, at work or at his local library.

“They want to find out about normal people, and then they give it right back to the people who already have it,” Olley said.

On the day the offer was announced, so many computer-less people called Idealab--the high-tech business incubator where Free-PC.com is based--that its phone mail system shut down. An additional 200 people showed up at Idealab’s door to fill out applications in person, but to no avail.

“We realize it’s an issue about signing up on the Web,” said Free-PC.com spokesman Steve Chadima. Eventually the company plans to accept applications for free computers over the phone and through a fax-back service, he said.

Free-PC.com founder Bill Gross initially said he wanted the first batch of free computers “to go more for the people who can’t afford a PC. This will open up a new world to them.”

But that early emphasis on low- and middle-income households has been set aside. Now the company says it will give the first 10,000 PCs to the applicants who advertisers find most desirable--and one characteristic they typically look for is a large disposable income.

Gross and some industry analysts say advertisers will become eager to reach low- and middle-income consumers once they take to the Web in large numbers.

By midweek, the company had set up a toll-free number--(877) FREE-PC1--for people who can’t get to its Web site (https://www.free-pc.com). But the recorded message offered little assistance.

“To apply for a free PC, please visit our Web site,” it said. “If you do not have access to the Internet, please visit your local library and use the access there. Due to the incredible volume of requests, we are not accepting applications by telephone. Thank you.”