Toshiba to stop marketing desktops in U.S.-WSJ
NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - In another sign of hard times
in the personal computer sector, the U.S. unit of Japanese
electronics company Toshiba Corp <6502.T> will stop marketing
desktop personal computers in the United States, the Wall Street
Journal reported on Wednesday.
Irvine, California-based Toshiba America Information Systems
Inc. is ending a four-year experiment to expand beyond its
portable personal computer business, a spokesperson said,
according to the Journal's online edition.
The newspaper said that the company's reach never went
beyond more than one percent of the United States' desktop PC
market since launching its Equium line of machines in March
1997, market research said.
The Journal quoted John Carson, vice president of customer
marketing at Toshiba America as saying: "We didn't have
resources to focus on everything. It was time to concentrate."
Carson said that with PC demand slipping this year, the
company had to decide whether it would invest in rolling out
aline of desktops or focus on the markets where it saw the
greatest opportunity, the newspaper said.
The company "always hoped the notebook [PC] cachet would rub
off on the desktop line. It didn't work out that way," said
Roger Kay, a PC analyst at market researcher International Data
Corp. in Framingham, Massacushetts, reported the Wall Street
Journal.
Kay estimated the company sold 52,000 desktop PCs last year,
down from 250,000 in 1999, the newspaper said.
Overall, PC sales are projected to fall this year for the
first time since 1986, the Wall Street Journal said.
Hewlett-Packard Co. <HWP.N> has made a bid for rival Compaq
Computer Corp. <CPQ.N> and smaller companies are in full
retreat, the newspaper said. Gateway Inc. <GTW.N> recently
pulled out of Asia and Europe, and Micron Electronics left the
market.
((--New York Equities Desk (646) 223-6000))
REUTERS
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