On a somewhat gloomy day, here are a few news items that hint the cloud has a silver lining.
The first seems negative, but an 80% increase in users isn't bad, even if they aren't using the Internet as often as an earlier survey.
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April 27, 1998 (TOKYO) -- There are 6.3 million Web users throughout Japan, but the boom in Internet use seems to be subsiding, according to Nikkei Market Access, a membership information service. The number of users has increased by about 80 percent since a similar survey conducted a year ago. However, the growth rate since six months ago was only 13 percent (See chart.). The explosive Web boom seems to have reached a ceiling in Japan. Six percent of the Japanese who are Web users are 16 or older.
The dissemination rate of the number of Internet users, including users of Internet mail, has slowed down at 9.2 percent, with the number of the users at 9.7 million. The ratio of online services users was 11.5 percent, or 12.1 million.
The ratio of male users of Web increased sharply from 6 percent at the end of March 1997 to 9.3 percent at the end of September 1997. However, it did not show a steep growth this time at 10.6 percent. Enthusiasm toward the Web among male users is cooling down.
Women also are using the Web less. The ratio of female users at the end of September 1997 was twice as much as six months earlier. However, it was only between 1-2 percent. There were far fewer women users than men. The ratio of female users at the end of March 1998 increased only by 0.1 point since half a year ago.
Internet mail is spreading among men. The ratio of male Internet mail users has reached 10.7 percent. The ratio has been steadily increasing by about 1 point every six months, and the growth rate does not seem to be slowing down. Internet mail is spreading as a crucial means of communication in business, and such business use is expected to spread the Internet further.
This survey was conducted by telephone among Japanese men and women aged 16 and older during the second half of March 1998.
Japan was divided into 20 regions, and a certain number of samples was assigned to each region. Samples were picked randomly from a telephone directory in each region.
Some 2,000 responses -- 1,000 from men and 1,000 from women -- were collected.
Internet user : The definition of an Internet user in this survey is a person who uses either the Web or Internet mail, which are the major uses of the Internet, within a month. The Internet could be used for file transfer protocol (FTP), however, there are very few people who use FTP without using the Web or the Internet mail.>>>>
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April 27, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- Manufacturers of computer peripheral equipment in Taiwan said they expect their businesses to improve in the second quarter of this year. The market in March has fully digested bearish factors, such as the drop in earnings around the time of the CeBit computer trade show and the wait-and-see attitude prior to the debut of Intel Corp.'s low-priced Celeron chips, they said.
Personal computer sales were lackluster in the first quarter.
Intel and Motorola Inc. both witnessed shrinking earnings, while Compaq Computer Corp. suffered rising inventories.
Because those companies have been busy clearing out inventories, Taiwan-based computer component suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) saw a drop in orders from abroad. And many computer buyers have taken a wait-and-see attitude, expecting that computer prices will fall further after Celeron's introduction.
Price cuts offered during the CeBit trade show helped boost the production of companies that make computer components and peripheral equipment. But, at the same time, the earnings of such companies have registered much smaller growth, and many computer peripheral makers even saw their earnings fall in March.
An executive at First International Computer Inc., motherboard OEM firm, said that prospects of the computer market in the second quarter are no worse than in the first quarter. Profit margins in the industry are still hard to predict, because many market uncertainties exist, he added.
The wait-and-see attitude among buyers is likely to end after Celeron chips appears in the market, said a spokesman at Song Cheer Computer Co., Ltd., a major computer case maker.
Makers of computer cases are expected to see a rise in operating revenues in May, when products designed for the MicroATX standards in the Celeron lineup start reaching the market.
Local printed circuit board (PCB) companies say that prospects for second quarter production appear good, but they add that over-supply may reduce suppliers' rates of earnings.
Price cuts are now common in the industry, because existing PCB makers are expanding operations amid the entry of many newcomers.>>>
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April 27, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- The output of Taiwan's optoelectronic industry surged in the last 10 years, increasing from NT$10 billion (US$300 million) in 1987 to NT$154.8 billion in 1997, according to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). ITRI estimates that the production level is likely to reach NT$310 billion by 2000, or about 5.7 percent of the global output, to make Taiwan the world's third largest manufacturer of optoelectronic products Pentium II microprocessors, will continue to stimulate market demand, industry analysts said.
Synnex Technology International Corp. posted revenues of NT$8.29 billion in the first quarter, for an increase of 55 percent year-on-year, said Lin Chun-chien, assistant marketing manager. Its pretax earnings surged 105 percent, to hit NT$380 million. He added that while sales in the second quarter will likely be lower than in the first quarter, they are expected to grow at least 40 percent from the same period last year.
Lin Hsien-lang, vice general manager of Acer Sertek, said that the company's sales grew 20 percent in the first quarter. Lin said he believes that when Compaq Computer Corp. and IBM Corp. have solved their inventory problems, PC makers will increase their sales in the second quarter. Acer Sertek has begun to expand its target clients from individuals to corporations.
Synnex's Lin added that the sharp earnings decline of U.S. PC makers in the first quarter, due to the impact of the low-priced PC trend, is unlikely to repeat itself in the local market, as the two markets differ in terms of distribution and sales patterns. Taiwan's market segment of low-priced PCs is small, and such PCs should have a limited impact on the overall market.
But because the number of PC retailers increased to 6,000 this year, competition is expected to intensify.>>>>
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NEC Establishes Optical Fiber Communication Company April 27, 1998 (TOKYO) -- NEC Corp. established NEC Yamanashi Ltd. to produce and sell optical fiber communications systems and components. The new company, located in Yamanashi City, Japan, started operations in April 1998.
NEC Yamanashi is a wholly-owned subsidiary that unifies NEC's Yamanashi and Otsuki plants. It handles parts production to systems assembly.
NEC projects that sales of the new subsidiary will reach 100 billion yen (US$765 million) in FY98. It is capitalized at 3 billion yen (US$23 million) and has 1,100 employees.
NEC is now constructing one more plant on the premises of the Otsuki plant by investing about 10 billion yen (US$76.5 million). The plant is about to be completed in May 1998. With the new plant, NEC will be able to double its components-producing capacity.<<< |
