(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Apple iMac PC Colors Vary Greatly in Popularity
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February 4, 1999 (TOKYO) -- New Apple iMac PCs, which come in five colors,
are selling at a brisk pace, and the strawberry and blueberry colors
are especially popular in Japan.
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The initial shipments of the strawberry and blueberry models sold out
in a few days at all shops that carry iMac PCs. Apple's new iMac PCs
debuted in Japan on Jan. 24.
The iMac is most popular among young Japanese women. Such women are known
for making purchases of products according to appearance. They apparently
do not care about the CPU frequency or connectivity to peripherals.
This is the very scenario that Apple Computer Inc.'s interim CEO Steve
Jobs is trying to create, industry sources said. In a new era, many
buyers will select PCs according to color, and not necessarily according
to specifications.
Such color-oriented marketing of PCs also is done by other computer makers.
Sharp Corp., for example, has already sold about 500 units of its thin
notebook Mebius Note PC-PJ1 with a metallic touch of blue purple. According
to Sharp, it will continue to work on PC color-based marketing.
Toshiba Corp. provides a PC coloring service in which customers can select
their favorite color from 12 selections.
"Toshiba has received about 200 orders, with 40 percent from women, and
the most popular color is pearl white," a company official said.
NEC is cautious about this trend. It suffered a tough experience with
PCs offered in blue and pink a few years ago.
"Launching colorful PCs will not bring the best results. Colors should
be considered in line with the design and the purpose. Apple's iMac
can do it because of the unique design," an NEC official said.
Thus, NEC will retain its basic color line of silver and black because
those are the most popular colors for electric appliances such as TVs
and audio-video equipment.
According to NEC, the black version of a desktop PC with a liquid crystal
display (LCD) monitor, which it added for the 1998 year-end sales campaign,
enjoyed sales close to its white-color counterpart.
Related stories:
� New iMac Model Sells Well in Japan, But Retailers Complain
� New iMac Version to Sell for 158,000 Yen in Late January
� PC, TV to Compete in Future: NEC Exec. VP
(Nikkei
Personal Computing)
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