Dell Inc is trying to sell computer factories around the world in efforts to cut cost and improve profitability, the Wall Street Journal said.

In recent months, Dell has approached contract computer manufacturers with offers to sell the plants, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

One person briefed on the plan told the Journal that he expects Dell to sell most, possibly all, of its factories "within the next 18 months".

The most likely buyers of Dell's factories will be big contract manufacturers, most of which are based in Asia, the paper said.

Dell's factories were originally tailored for a PC market that was driven by corporate customers ordering large volumes of desktop PCs.

But over the past three years, growth has shifted to laptops sold to consumers at retail stores. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell has lagged behind competitors in coming up with a streamlined system to build portable PCs.

Dell could face several obstacles in selling its plants. Contract manufacturers may be hesitant to buy factories in places with high labor costs, like the United States, a person with knowledge of the talks told the Journal.

And some facilities could be encumbered by agreements with local governments. Dell's North Carolina plant, for example, received several million dollars of state and local tax incentives that are contingent on the factory meeting certain employment and local-investment goals by 2015.

Though Dell's plants are still regarded as efficient at churning out desktop PCs, within the industry, company-owned factories aren't considered the least expensive way to produce laptops

Android developers will be able to distribute content through Android Market—an open content distribution system that will help end users find, purchase, download and install various types of content on their Android-powered devices.

It will be powered by Google’s expertise in infrastructure, search and relevance to connect users with content created by developers like you.

Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube.

Eric Chu at  Android blog wrote “We chose the term “market” rather than “store” because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available. Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings.”