Seiko Epson Co has had such demand for its NEC 9801-compatible lap-top computers that it has expanded its 1988 sales target to 70,000 from 50,000 after a disappointing start when the thing was held up by problems with the liquid crystal diode display which meant that only 10,000 went out last year against a target of 40,000: production is now back up to 4,500 to 5,000 a month, but orders are still backlogged; and Epson faces competition because NEC Corp itself began selling its own new laptop from the end of March – at the end of last year, sales of the old PC98LT were only 4% of PC9800 series sales, but with the release of the PC9801LT-V21, NEC is hoping that this will rise to 7% or 8% of total ships, which would mean about 40,000 units.
