Laptop Shipments Surpass 70% of Japan PC Market
Driven on by the popularity of low-cost netbook computers, shipments of laptops have surpassed 70 percent of the Japanese PC market for the first time.
In November 457,000 laptops were shipped in Japan against 185,000 desktop computers, according to data released Wednesday by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA). That split the market 71.1 percent in favor of laptops and 28.9 percent to desktops.
Total shipments for the month were down about 7 percent on November 2007 due to the poor economy but laptop shipments were up 3 percent on the year while desktop shipments dropped 25 percent, said JEITA.
The total value of PC shipments was down 17 percent at ¥72 billion (US$795 million). The larger percentage drop in value than unit shipments indicates the average price of PCs is dropping. In the laptop space the value of shipments fell 12 percent despite the greater unit volume.
The JEITA data is based on shipment figures received from 13 major PC vendors including Apple, Sony, Sharp, NEC, Lenovo, Fujitsu and Toshiba.
Apple 15" MacBook Pro Notebook
Manufacturer: Apple
Product: 15" MacBook Pro Notebook
Rebate Description: This offer is not valid with the purchase of used, refurbished, demonstration or discounted equipment. A valid UPC/bar code label includes the cardboard backing, part number, serial number, and product description. The envelope enclosing your completed original coupon, proof(s) of purchase, and UPC/bar code label(s) must be postmarked within 20 days of your purchase date. Rebate only valid if product is purchased at that days advertised price. Rebate check will be mailed to the billing address of the store account.
Expiration Date: 2008-12-31
Restrictions: Limit 1 per product per person, per address, per household
HP (Hewlett-Packard) Compaq Presario CQ50-130US Notebook
Manufacturer: HP (Hewlett-Packard)
Product: Compaq Presario CQ50-130US Notebook
Rebate Description: Offer NOT valid at Best Buy, Costco, HP Home and Home office, Office Max, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, Sears, Walmart. For additional details or to check your rebate status online, go to the Web at www.hp.com/go/beofgoodcheer. Allow four weeks before checking your rebate status online. Not eligible at all stores. Please see the form for a list of excluded stores. Submit: (1) This completed rebate form. (2) Copy of the dated invoice, sales receipt, or transaction record for qualifying purchase dated with purchase price circled. (3) The cutout of the original UPC and serial number bar code label(s) for each qualifying Compaq product. Requests must be postmarked within 45 days of purchase date, as determined by invoice, receipt, or transaction record. If you have any questions regarding this offer, please call the HP and Compaq Rebate Center at 1.888.385.5410.
Expiration Date: 2009-01-03
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Inside the Perfect Laptop
t's fair to say that laptops have gotten boring. For years now, they've offered pretty much the same features and pretty much the same designs. Sure, there have been a few innovations such as Apple's multitouch trackpad, but mostly laptops have had just incremental improvements such as adding more media slots over time and replacing USB 1.0 with USB 2 or FireWire 400 with FireWire 800.So InfoWorld decided to challenge PC makers to do better. We subjected our project to the limitations that any manufacturer faces when it starts whiteboarding a new notebook. Components must either be available now in sufficient quantity to support volume production or have component manufacturers contractual commitment to availability at a supportable price within the next 12 months.
We came up with our WorldBook designs that take touch to a whole new level, integrate iPhone functions so the laptop is also a great communication station take advantage of renewable solar power and rethink the display technologies. Plus we rethought the case design to make it more durable and reconsidered what a docking station should be.
You can take a Flash tour of our two WorldBook models and even price them out along with their options. Now, if only someone would build them! (We were pleased to see that Apple's newest notebooks take up one of our ideas: the use of DisplayPort video connectors.) We also explored how to make our perfect laptop greener.
But we didn't stop there. We asked our readers to add their ideas to the table. And we got some really interesting suggestions. We learned that features we excluded for being too expensive or impractical might have enough market appeal to justify another crack at doing them affordably.
Modularity was a popular theme among our readers' submissions. More than one reader wanted a removable keyboard a removable screen a detachable camera and microphone removable wireless speakers and a removable disk drive that could be easily slipped out of the laptop and into a desktop computer.
Now that we and our readers have put a compelling design and ideas on the table, it's time for the PC makers to take up the challenge. Will it be Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba ...? If we're lucky, we'll all find out in 2009.
