December 8, 1999 Web posted at: 10:09 a.m. EST (1509 GMT) by Mary Lisbeth D'Amico

From...

(IDG) -- German consumers, known for their willingness to brave long lines at the supermarket in search of a cheap computer, can now line up for a PC at their local gas station.

Deutsche BP, the German subsidiary of the global oil concern, is selling computers at its 400 gas stations across Germany, the company said in a statement.

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Those who would rather forego the wait can also order the PCs at a virtual gas station, a new Web site that lets people buy the same products online.

The site, called bpexpress, is currently offering an array of products such as PCs from Compaq, monitors from NEC, handhelds from Psion and peripherals such as a color jet printer from Lexmark International.

Shoppers who want to know how to find the nearest BP station can check out a map on the Web site. At a special price of 1,999 marks (US$1038) is a Compaq Presario featuring a 500MHz-Pentium III chip, 64MB of RAM and an IBM 15GB hard drive. It comes with a 48x CD-drive, a 32MB-graphic card, a 56Kbps modem and comes pre-installed with America Online's Internet access software.