PC Shipments in Japan Decline for Second Straight Year in 2002
January 28, 2003 (TOKYO) -- The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) disclosed the results of its study on PCs shipped in Japan for the third quarter and the calendar year of 2002.
The shipments of PCs in Japan for the third quarter of 2002 declined 6% in units to 2,381,000 units and fell 7% in value to 395.3 billion yen from the same period a year earlier.
PC shipments for calendar 2002 declined 11% in units to 10,027,000 units and fell 11% in value to 1,679.3 billion yen. The year-on-year decreases of 11% in both shipment units and value are the worst results yet recorded.
In 2001, the year-on-year decreases were 2% in units and 10% in value, and thus the annual PC shipments showed negative growth for two straight years.
JEITA indicates that the environment for PC sales in Japan is still harsh both in the markets for business and consumer applications, which are suffering from the lingering economic stagnation.
However, JEITA pointed out a favorable indication of a slight recovery in the shipments in the latter half (July - December) of 2002 against those in the first half (January - June). The PC shipments in the first half decreased by 15% to 5,520,000 units compared with the same period of 2001, but the latter half of 2002 registered shipments of 4,507,000 units, for a 6% decrease from the same period a year earlier.
In addition, the percentage of notebook PCs to total PC shipments for 2002 in Japan was 56%, for an all-time high on a calendar year basis. The market for business-use PCs sees the growing need for replacements that had long been postponed, as well as for deployment of additional systems to the existing systems, despite the ongoing restraints on IT investment by companies.
In the market for the consumer PCs, although lacking momentum, users are showing greater interest in models with built-in TV tuners and DVD drives as their use of PCs diversify in terms of e-mail and browsing as well as viewing audio-video content.
JEITA estimates the domestic shipment units for fiscal 2002 (April 2002 - March 2003) at around 10 million units and for fiscal 2003 as around 10.7 million units. The shipments of PCs for the third quarter of fiscal 2002, including exports, declined 5% in units to 2,551,000 units and 7% in value to 419.2 billion yen.
The shipments of PCs for calendar 2002 fell 11% in units to 10,661,000 units and fell 11% in value to 1,771 billion yen.
(117.78 yen = US$1)
Related link: JEITA
(Ryo Kimura, Staff Editor, BizTech News Dept.) |
