(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Average PC Price in Sept. Remains Stable: Nikkei Best PC Survey
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October 19, 1998 (TOKYO) -- The average retail price of a personal computer
at Japan's major volume stores as of Sept. 16 was slightly less than
that in August.
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Nikkei Market Access, a membership information service
on the IT market, summarized over-the-counter prices of PCs that were
collected by Nikkei Best PC, a PC purchasing guide. The results revealed
that the average price of desktop/tower PCs was 255,333 yen (US$2,140),
or 325 yen lower than that of the previous month, while the average
price of notebook PCs was 272,492 yen (US$2,280), down 1,848 yen from
August.
The decline in prices from the previous month was 0.1 percent for desktop
PCs and 0.7 percent for notebook PCs.
Retail demand for PCs in September 1997 was not strong. The average over-the-counter
price of PCs rose in September 1997, when demand for PCs in the retail
market shrunk. This year, PCs are selling well in the retail market
thanks to the popularity of Windows 98 and iMac PCs, and the average
over-the-counter price was stable. This is the first time since April
1996 that the price fluctuation of both desktop and notebook PCs was
below the 1 percent range of the prior month's price level.
Demand for PCs in retail stores usually falls in October, and thus, over-the-counter
prices tend to drop. Many producers have reduced their shipments this
year so that excess inventories would not be generated. For this reason,
Nikkei Market Access projects that there will be no price plunges owing
to inventory adjustments.
Following the introduction by Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial
Co., Ltd. of their lightweight notebook PCs with built-in digital cameras,
the retail market has many popular products. It is unlikely that the
average over-the-counter price will fluctuate greatly in October.
Nikkei Best PC obtains over-the-counter prices of major products in 14
volume stores of PCs (16 stores until February, 1998) in Tokyo, Osaka
and Nagoya. Every issue of Nikkei Best PC reports this data, from which
the average over-the-counter prices of desktop/tower and notebook PCs
are obtained.
The prices by products and shops as of Sept. 16 are reported in the November
issue of Nikkei Best PC.
Related stories:
Average PC Retail Prices Fall in August: Nikkei Best PC Survey
Sony Releases 1.1kg VAIO Notebook PC with CCD Camera
(Nikkei Market Access)
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