Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (153194)	2/8/2000 9:44:00 AM
From: Yamakita	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Things don't look so bad on this side of the Pacific ...... ~~~ Tuesday February 8 4:29 AM ET PC Sales Soar As Japan Gets Internet Fever By Yuko Inoue TOKYO (Reuters) - From being a cyberspace laggard Japan is suddenly speeding down the information highway on its way to being one of the world's most Internet-savvy countries. Data out on Tuesday showed sales of personal computers jumped 31 percent to a record high in 1999 despite an economic slump, a sign of the transformation that is under way. ''I think Japan has just entered a rapid acceleration period (for PC growth). I expect the percentage of homes owning PCs to rise to 60 percent in the not too distant future,'' said Katsushi Shiga, an analyst at Dataquest, Gartner Group Japan. He expects PC purchases to accelerate, particularly among individual users, in the next few years. PC shipments in Japan hit a record 9.22 million PCs in 1999, extending a rise that started in late 1998, according to the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association. As reasons it cited a continued sharp increase in first-time PC buyers wishing to surf the Internet and exchange e-mail, larger replacement demand and falling PC prices. The ongoing information technology revolution also prompted companies to purchase more PCs, though this was eclipsed by Internet fever among individual users. ''It was a very strong year that confirmed there is firm consumer demand,'' said Koyo Matsuo, head of a PC study group at the association. Millennium computer bug problems had no cooling effect on demand from consumers or business users, he said. PC shipments in the key October-December quarter rose 30 percent year-on-year, dipping from the previous quarter's 34 percent gain. Stronger sales are expected in January-March, when companies usually rush to purchase office equipment ahead of the end of the business year so as to use up spare cash in their budgets. Number Of Home Pc Users Still Half Of That Of U.S. Internet use in Japan, the world's second-biggest PC market, has been a held back by the relatively low numbers of home computers and high interconnection charges. But the association said strong sales raised the percentage of households owning a PC to around 28 percent at the end of 1999 from 20 percent a year earlier, although the figure is still half that of the United States, estimated at 50 percent in 1999. Industry circles expect new technologies that provide Internet access using ordinary phone lines such as ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line), soon to be introduced by numerous small start-up ventures, will sharply lower Internet access fees later this year. Shiga also cited big companies' growing appetite for investment in information equipment and future needs for small businesses to digitize their business models as favorable signs for the expanding PC market. Reflecting the strong results for the first nine months of the Japanese financial year, the association, whose members include 18 PC makers operating in Japan, has revised up its PC shipments forecast for the year ending in March to 9.5 million units, exceeding its original target of nine million units. Matsuo said shipments are certain to grow more than 10 percent in the year starting in April, but declined to comment further. He said there is still a lot of room for businesses to raise their information investment. At present, only 20 percent of firms have computers for every employee, with the rest sharing a PC among several employees. The association earlier estimated 2000/01 business year shipments at 10.08 million units, up 12 percent.