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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (34300)	2/17/2000 10:10:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

PC Shipments Leap 36 Pct. to 10.54 Million in '99: GartnerGroup Japan February 17, 2000 (TOKYO) -- Personal computer shipments in Japan rose by a robust 36 percent from a year earlier to 10.54 million units in 1999, the Dataquest Division of GartnerGroup Japan KK said in its preliminary report released Feb. 16. Purchases of PCs for individual use are estimated to have risen more than 60 percent, making up over 40 percent of total domestic shipments. Corporate demand is also believed to have been firm, with growth of more than 10 percent. Following the strong results, GartnerGroup Japan plans to revise upward an earlier forecast which had predicted that PC shipments in Japan in 2000 would rise by 11.6 percent to 11.17 million units. The high-tech market research firm attributes the strong growth of Japan's PC market in 1999 primarily to the following four factors. First, the number of individual Internet users has increased sharply. Second, the year saw the release of new low-priced, compact PCs by major vendors, which went down well with consumers. Third, last year happened to be the year when many companies replaced their PCs in line with their computer purchasing cycles. Fourth, the Y2K computer bug problem prompted major reviews of corporate information systems and the active replacement and new purchases of PCs by firms. Comparisons by product type show both desktop and notebook PCs sold well. But the growth of low-priced tower PCs and space-saving PCs among desktop models and notebook PCs with a monitor size of 13 inches or larger was especially strong. NEC Corp. was the market leader with a 22.0 percent share. Fujitsu Ltd. came second with 21.5 percent, followed by IBM Japan Ltd. with 9.9 percent, Toshiba Corp., 7.4 percent, and Sony Corp., 6.9 percent. The most notable change was the rise of Sony, which moved from being lumped till 1998 together with low-ranking suppliers in the "others" category to fifth position. According to GartnerGroup Japan's analysis, Sony carried on from its VAIO 505 winning streak in 1998 to A4-size all-in-one notebook PC models and space-saving desktop models, featuring an LCD display, last year. Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd. slipped from fifth in 1998 to below sixth. (BizTech News Dept.)