DAVOS-UPDATE 1-Dell, Microsoft team up to sell (Red) computers

(Adds details about sales schedule, contribution breakdown)

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

SEATTLE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are teaming up to release a Product Red computer, donating up to $80 for every one sold to fund AIDS-fighting drugs in Africa.

Dell will start selling two (Red) laptops and one desktop running Microsoft Windows Vista on Friday. The two companies will donate $50 for a laptop and $80 for a desktop to the Global Fund, which finances health programs in Africa.

(Red), founded by U2 singer Bono and Bobby Shriver, works to develop co-branded products with companies such as Motorola Inc (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Gap Inc (GPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which then donate a portion of the proceeds for antiretroviral drugs.

Microsoft said it expects "several hundred thousand" (Red) Dell PCs to be sold in 2008. The PCs, designed in part by Bono, will have a distinctive red casing and the Windows interface will feature a red background and sidebar.

"My job is to put some poetry in the machine, put some funk in the machines," Bono said in an interview with Reuters.

(Red) has raised $53 million for the Global Fund since it was founded in 2006. Bono, who expects to exceed that figure in 2008 alone, said the organization lost some potential partners after a critical article in Advertising Age questioned the effectiveness of the campaign.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who provided some of the seed money for (Red), defended the group, saying it has saved lives that would have otherwise been lost.