The old certainties that ruled computer industry analysis over the past 30 years are tumbling like autumn leaves, and commercial realities are now eating away at the traditional determination of Japanese companies to forget the bottom line and stick with major product sectors for the long term: Sony Corp says it is considering pulling out of Japan’s competitive word processor market to save the cost of developing and manufacturing new models, Reuter reports from Tokyo; Sony began making word processors in 1985 and production reached a peak of 10,000 a month; NEC Corp, Toshiba Corp, Fujitsu Ltd and Sharp Corp now dominate the market and Sony currently makes just 500 of the things a month, a drop in the 1992 market oceam of 2.6m machines.
