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Technology Stocks : ATI Technologies in 1997 (T.ATY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marc who wrote (4996)	1/31/2000 12:28:00 AM
From: Marc	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5927

Japan's PC Sales Soar to Record Level As Y2K Issue Ends January 31, 2000 (TOKYO) -- Personal computers sold like pancakes in the over-the-counter market in Japan during the first week of January 2000. PC sales in units more than doubled compared with the same week a year ago, and surpassed the record high figure registered in the first week of December 1999 by 24.6 percent. According to Gfk Japan Ltd., an information services company handling POS data for 55 volume sales companies of home electric appliances, PC sales at about 2,000 large-scale retail stores in the first week of January 2000 (Jan. 3-9) increased 38.9 percent in units compared with the previous week, and were up 41.1 percent in value. Compared with the same week a year ago (Jan. 4-10 1999), PC sales soared 110.4 percent in units and 85.8 percent in value. The average sales price was 197,898 yen, up 3,005 yen from the previous week's 194,893 yen. (105.70 = US$1) Ordinarily in the winter PC sales wars, the peak period comes in the first week of December, immediately after the bonus payment by private enterprises, and declines gradually after that. In the winter sales during the week of Dec. 6-12, 1999, PC sales went extremely well, exceeding the figure for the same week the year before by 29.4 percent in units and renewing the highest record of weekly sales units. But this year, PC sales in the first week of January broke this record with skyrocketing sales in units. What lays behind the scene seems to have been the Year 2000 computer problem. PC sales grew particularly strongly during the three-day weekend covering Jan. 8-10. Some of the large-scale retail stores said many people probably waited until the government and industry sources declared safety concerning the Y2K problem before going to make their purchases. In fact, some of the customers visiting their stores in December 1999 only asked questions about the specifications of the models they had in mind and possible effects of the Y2K problem, but went away saying that they would wait until after the New Year to buy the product. By contrast, those who visited the stores early in the new year already had in mind the models of their choices and made the purchases as soon as they came into the stores. This type of behavior presumably resulting from the Y2K problem was common among elderly customers who were buying their first personal computer. It is also quite possible that people who had to work during the year-end and New Year's holidays to cope with the possible Y2K problems were among those customers who purchased the PCs during that peak period. The first week of January this year contained three holidays. GfK Japan collects POS data from 55 IT-related retail sales companies centering on high-volume stores specializing in home electric appliances. It covers 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 sales channel, the share comes to about 25 percent of such shipments.