(Japanese Site)
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| Microsoft Expects Japan Version of Windows 98 to be Popular
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June 22, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Makoto Naruke, president of Microsoft Co.,
Ltd. of Japan, projected that sales of the Japanese version of
Windows 98 would reach at least 500,000 units mainly for private
use in the first three months on the market.
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He made the comments in a press conference held June 17. The release
of the Japanese version of Windows 98 was announced at the press
conference.
Naruke said that Windows 98 will have a great impact on the private
-use PC market. He added that corporate utilization of Windows 98
will probably lag by three to six months, because enterprise users
will need to test it.
After a product demonstration at the press conference, the
presidents of many Japanese PC makers gave speeches. Those who
spoke were Hisashi Kaneko, president of NEC Corp.; Nobuyuki Idei,
president of Sony Corp.; Tadashi Sekizawa, president of Fujitsu Ltd
.; and Yoichi Morishita, president of Matsushita Electric Industrial
Co., Ltd.
Taizo Nishimuro, president of Toshiba Corp., appeared on a video
screen. And Minoru Otsuka, chairman of the Japan Computer System
Sales Association (JCSSA) and president of Otsuka Shokai Co., Ltd.,
attended the conference on behalf of the computer distribution
industry.
Top PC executives rarely meet for product announcements outside of
their own companies. They have high expectations that the Windows 9
8 debut will help boost demand for PCs in Japan and throughout the
world.
"We expect Windows 98 to trigger demand in the private-use PC market
," said NEC's Kaneko.
"The Windows 98 debut is a great help to makers of information
-related appliances," said Sony's Idei.
"This will expedite integration between PCs and AV (audio and visual
) systems, both of which are necessary to construct digital
broadcasting systems," said Morishita of Matsushita Electric.
In fact, many of the Windows 98 functions are designed to improve
tasks in the home-use environment, according to Microsoft.
Japan's PC shipments in 1997 fell below the previous year's level
due to the sluggishness of the private-use PC market. PC companies
hope that the arrival of Windows 98 will stimulate the market for
individual-use PCs while the market for enterprise PCs is growing
steadily.
The announcement hinted that Microsoft has a strategy to promote
Windows NT as an enterprise operating system.
Related stories: Microsoft's Gates Introduces
Windows 98 to Japan
Windows 98 Sales Seen Fewer than Windows 95: Microsoft
(Hi-Tech News Center)
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