To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (41752 ) 1/29/2001 4:10:36 PM From: Proud_Infidel Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 70976 PC Unit Sales in Japan in the First Week of January Hit Record High January 29, 2001 (TOKYO) -- PC unit sales in Japan in the first week of January (Jan. 1-7, 2001) increased greatly, and reached a record historic high. PC sales increased 75.1 percent in units and 67.4 percent in value from the previous week, according to statistics of GfK Japan Ltd. Compared with the same week a year ago (Jan. 3-9, 2000), PC sales increased 46.7 percent in units and 28.3 percent in value. PC sales in the first week of January 2001 broke the record high set in the fourth week of last March (March 20-26, 2000), exceeding it by 27.5 percent in units and 9.9 percent in value. GfK Japan is an information company dealing with POS data collected from 3,200 volume retailers of household electric appliances. PC sales hit a record high back in the first week of last January (Jan. 3-9, 2000) because consumers put off purchases until early 2000 to check the influence of the Y2K issue. The growth of PC sales is possibly because many people took a long vacation. GfK Japan estimated that conventional household electric appliance sales increased greatly in the first week of 2001. They are supposed to grow 30 percent from the same period last year, GfK said. The average retail price of PCs decreased 7,826 yen from the previous week's 179,885 yen to 172,059 yen. That of notebook PCs fell sharply by 7,836 yen to a record low of 188,492 yen, and that of desktop PCs went down by 5,333 yen from the previous week. (117.2 yen = US$1) Table: PC Sales in the First Week of Jan. 2001 (GfK Japan survey) Comparison with the same week a year ago (Jan. 3-7, 2000) Total Desktop PC Notebook PC Week-on-week comparison Year-before weekly comparison Week-on-week comparison Year-before weekly comparison Week-on-week comparison Year-before weekly comparison Volume +75.1% +46.7% +87.7% +34.6% +64.8% +60.0% Value +67.4% +28.3% +81.5% +24.7% +58.2% +31.1% Previous report: Desktop PC Sales in Japan in Fifth Week of December See Another Decrease (Nikkei Market Access) Subject 50522