Japan PC Shipments Totaled 14.61 Million Units in 2005, Increased by 9.1% Year on Year

IDC: The Japan PC market expanded in 2005 with shipments increasing by 9.1% year on year.

The demand for home PCs recovered in 2005, following the strong demand for consumer electronics caused by the Olympics in 2004. The home PC market had its first positive growth after four consecutive negative years with shipments of 5.6 million units, increasing by 13.6%. The growth in 2005 was also the result of increased shipments by major PC vendors, which started selling spring models in December instead of January. The business PC market declined from double-digit growth in two consecutive years to 6.3%. In the large companies, many PC replacements were completed in the first quarter of 2005, and the demand for PCs for securities under the Information Protection Law also slowed in the second half of 2005.

Although home PC demand was a driver in 2005, there is a gap between shrinking home PC and expanding business PC markets. Despite the declining growth, business PCs will remain strong with over 60% of Japan PC market.

Vendor Highlights

IBM, which was the fifth ranked vendor in 2004, fell from the Top 10 list due to the acquisition by Lenovo. HP, Sony and Hitachi were ranked from fifth to seventh respectively while Lenovo Japan, which launched in May 2005, was ranked 8th.

The top 5 vendors except for Fujitsu marked double-digit growth and increased shares in 2005. While the four vendors focused on market share, Fujitsu took revenue-oriented strategies, thus decreasing its share by 1.4 points. Vendors ranked under 6th except for Apple also had decreasing shares. Apple had the highest growth among Top 10 vendors with 24.7% year-on-year growth with strong sales, including Mac mini.

Vendors focused on the SMB market from the second half of 2005, causing severe competition. As the growth of business PC slows, the competition will be more accelerated in every segment, forcing vendors to be strong under price competition.

The Japan PC market is expected to grow 0.2% year on year and reach 14.64 million in 2006. IDC Japan forecasts the market size will be flat because of the slow demand before the launch of Windows Vista and declining growth of business PC. However, the demand will recover in 2007, .

Notes to Editor

The shipments of Lenovo Japan include IBM Japan PC Business's shipments from the second quarter of 2005.

Japan PC Shipments and Growth Rate, 2000-2005 Source: IDC, 2006

Top 10 Vendor Ranking, 2004-2005 Top 10 Vendors in 2005, Japan PC PC Shipments See: Japan PC market

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