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  • iMac Stimulates Japan PC Sales in 4th Week of August
  • September 21, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Personal computer sales in Japan in the fourth week of August (Aug. 24-30) were active due to the popularity of Apple Computer Inc.'s iMacs, launched Aug. 29.
    According to data aggregated by GfK Japan Ltd., an information service company which deals with POS data of electric appliances mass marketing retailers, PC sales in the fourth week of August at their retail shops of about 2,000 was up 25.1 percent from the previous week in terms of unit, and up 20.8 percent from the same week in terms of value (See table).

    The unit-based sales were up 44.0 percent from the fourth week of August a year ago (Aug. 25-31, 1997), and the value-based figure was up 35.4 percent. The average sales price of PCs was 225,646 yen (US$1,710), down 8,145 yen from 233,791 yen (US$1,770) the previous week.

    As for iMac sales, there is a shop that reportedly sold a record high number. It was a main factor that boosted PC sales for the said period, following the launch of Windows 98.

    However, squeezed by record-high sales of desktop PCs, the share of notebook PCs to that of desktops fell below 50 percent for the first time in 14 weeks. As the iMac was priced at a low of 178,000 yen (US$1,350), the average sales price of desktop PCs was also pushed down by more than 10,000 yen (US$75).

    The data GfK Japan released are from about 2,000 outlets of 41 firms.

    GfK Japan picked the 41 first in 1996 and has been releasing their data since then.

    GfK Japan covers a far greater number of outlets with combined unit-base sales accounting for about 10 percent of total domestic PC shipments and about 25 percent of total retail sales.

    The following graphs are at Nikkei Market Access in Japanese only:

    - Trends in the number of (all types of) PCs sold in a week.

    - Trends in the sales amount (in money) of (all types of) PCs in a week.

    - Trends in average sales price of (all types of) PCs sold in a week.

    - Trends in the number of desktop PCs sold in a week.

    - Trends in the sales amount of desktop PCs in a week.

    - Trends in the average sales price of desktop PCs in a week.

    - Trends in the number of notebook PCs sold in a week.

    - Trends in the sales amount of notebook PCs in a week.

    - Trends in the average sales price of notebook-size PCs in a week.

    Table: PC sales in the fourth week of August 1998 (Source: Gfk Japan)


    "Year-before weekly comparison" means the comparison with the week from Aug. 25 to 31, 1997.

    (return to news)

    Related stories:
    Popular iMac Computers Sell Out Upon Arrival in Japan
    Apple Japan Enjoys Large Demand for iMac PCs
    Japan PC Sales Plunge in 3rd Week of August

    (Nikkei Market Access)


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    Updated: Fri Sep 18 17:00:56 1998 PDT