Compaq to make renewed push in Japan with Canon to sell low cost PC's.
As for public pronouncements pushing the stock price up, I don't know what else Mason can say that he has not already said, yet the stock has not responded all that strongly. I think it may take some talking (and action) about DEC to make it move, one way or another.
February 24, 1998
Compaq to Unveil New Presario
In Japan After Striking Alliance
By WAYNE ARNOLD
Dow Jones Newswires
TOKYO -- Compaq Computer Corp.'s marketing alliance with Japan's
Canon Sales Co. will bear its first fruit by the end of this month when
Compaq unveils a new low-priced desktop personal computer tailored for
the Japanese consumer, a Compaq official said Tuesday.
The new machine represents a fresh attempt by Compaq to expand its
share of Japan's consumer market, which in six years of business is still
below 5%. Compaq launched its lowest-priced Presario -- the local
equivalent of its "sub-$1,000" machine sold in the U.S. -- in Japan last year,
but met with little success as consumers coping with a poor economy
responded to word that some of the machines had been infected with a
computer virus.
"The virus was only on a few hundred machines," said Makoto Baba, vice
president of product marketing for the Houston-based company's Japanese
unit. But, he said, "the competition and the media are harsh on foreign
companies."
Compaq and Canon announced late last month that Canon would become
the sole distributor for Compaq's Presario-brand consumer-oriented PCs in
Japan. It was the first such tie-up between a foreign computer maker and a
major Japanese sales company. Compaq gained an established distribution
network with a powerful local ally; Canon gained a big-name computer
brand with a pricing edge.
Mr. Baba said Canon came up with a few changes to make the Presario
more palatable to Japanese consumers, however. Last year's
virus-stigmatized model was black. The new Japanese Presario 2240 will
be creamy white. The new PC will have twice as much memory and a faster
modem for connecting to the Internet. Compaq said it couldn't disclose the
new Presario's price, but said it hopes the machine will help it achieve its
goal of grabbing 10% of Japan's overall PC market.
Market analysts say that may be tough under present circumstances.
Japan's PC market declined in the second half of 1997 and the first half of
this year doesn't look much better, according to Katsushi Shiga, an analyst
at market-research firm Dataquest in Tokyo. Businesses are scaling back
investments and consumers are skittish.
Mr. Baba is optimistic. "For a company with small [market] share,
economic conditions won't affect you as much." While sales to consumers
fell 20% last year, Compaq's sales to businesses, which account for
four-fifths of the its revenue in Japan, rose 10%, he said. Compaq's sales of
PC servers, the machines that run modern company networks, rose 80%,
Mr. Baba said.
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