Is the tide turning? Only a day after reporting the second year of falling personal computer sales (CI No 2,157), the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association says that Japanese manufacturers’ shipments of personal computers jumped 6.2% in unit terms during the January to March quarter from a year earlier, and the rise in combined exports and domestic sales to 688,000 units from 648,000 units in the year-earlier quarter marked the first quarterly rise in two years; exports rocketed 31% to 144,000 units but domestic shipments only inched up 1.1% to 544,000 units, but was still the first quarterly increase in two-and-a-half years; because of the price wars, combined export and domestic shipments of made-in-Japan micros – when measured in currency terms, fell 8.3% – exports and home sales each off 8%.
