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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (32397)	9/7/1999 9:42:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

PC Sales in Japan Grow Over 30 Pct. Year-on-Year September 7, 1999 (TOKYO) -- A survey of PC sales in Japan showed that over-the-counter sales during the second week of August 1999 increased both in units and value. This time last year coincided with the period when Windows 98 was put on the market and PC sales boomed, marking a remarkable growth for three consecutive weeks. This year, PCs are selling at a rate of more than 30 percent over the same period last year, even though the peak summer sales season is over. According to GfK Japan Ltd., an information service company handling POS data for 55 volume sales stores of consumer electric appliances, PC sales at about 2,000 shops during the second week of August this year (Aug. 9-15) showed a 4.3 percent increase in units from the previous week and a 4.2 percent rise in value. Compared with the same week a year ago (Aug. 10-16, 1998) a drastic 33.7 percent upswing in units and 28.0 percent in value was seen. The average sales price dropped 345 yen from the prior week's 222,405 yen to 222,060 yen. (109.06 yen = US$1) What stood out during the past few weeks was that the ratio of desktop/tower PCs to total sales in terms of units sold has been rising gradually to almost catch up with the ratio of notebook PCs. In terms of average sales price, high-end desktop/tower models rose 854 yen from the previous week to 194,529 yen. The average sales price of notebook PCs dropped 1,138 yen to 247,696. As many stores are expected to close for the summer recess the following week, PC sales are likely to show a temporary decrease, as usual. GfK Japan collects POS data from 55 IT-related retail sales companies centering on high-volume stores specializing in home electric appliances. It has been covering about 3,200 stores (as of April 1998) throughout Japan. In cooperation with GfK Japan, Nikkei Market Access provides weekly reports of PC sales in volume and value. The sales data has been based on the same 41 companies (with about 2,000 stores) since April 1996. The number of PCs sold at the 2,000 stores is estimated to comprise about 10 percent of gross domestic shipments, and when limiting the sales to the retail channel, the share comes to about 25 percent of such shipments. nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com