According to the wall street journal, growth in China remains strong. The original story is at www.wsj.com in the tech center today 11/6/97. It talks about P.C. makers feeling the pinch in Asia, with the exception of China and India
"Strong sales growth in the developing markets of China and India, however, helped keep the number of PCs sold in Asia rising steadily. Sales in unit terms grew 23% in the quarter, IDC said, slightly outpacing growth in the U.S.
"Growth in China is more important to regional expansion" than Southeast Asia, said Mr. Anderson. China is already the largest Asian market for PCs outside Japan in terms of units. India is now fourth-largest, according to IDC, surpassing Taiwan.
But sales in Southeast Asia were decidedly poor. Unit sales in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines combined grew only 7% in the third quarter from a year earlier. Revenues, however, dropped 14% to US$746 million. The number of PCs sold in Indonesia and Thailand actually declined.
Strong demand for PCs in China and India should keep total revenues in Asia from falling this year, Mr. Anderson said. But he said revenues from Southeast Asia were likely to shrink. And Mr. Anderson and others in the industry say there is a chance that the region's financial troubles could spread to affect PC sales elsewhere." |
