Canon Inc, which already markets the Apple Computer Inc Macintosh and the NeXT Computer System through its Canon Sales Inc arm, and has value-added reseller agreements with Digital Equipment Corp and IBM Japan Ltd is adding the full Hewlett-Packard Co line of HP 9000 Unix workstations to its line-up. The machines are already marketed in Japan by Yokogawa Hewlett-Packard, which in February announced a plan with its Cupertino parent to raise business systems sales to $530m from the present $45m over the next five years. Hewlett-Packard’s strength in Japan has been based on sales of engineering workstations. According to insiders, sales of NeXT computers in Japan are proving difficult, despite a growing number of Japanese language applications for NeXT. Canon is now saying bravely that its huge $100m investment in NeXT Inc will still bring it benefits in the long-term.
