The Times of India WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 09, 2002
China to surpass Japan as top Asian PC market REUTERS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 09, 2002 10:18:58 AM HONG KONG: With their economies moving in opposite directions, China is set to overtake Japan as Asia's biggest market for personal computer sales in 2003, research firm International Data Corp said on Wednesday. Kitty Fok, hardware analyst at IDC in Hong Kong, said China was on track for sales of 13.2 million PCs in 2003, compared with a forecast 12.7 million unit sales in Japan. Leapfrogging Japan would make China the world's second-biggest PC market after the United States. For 2001, China is expected to have moved 8.9 million PCs, increasing to 10.8 million in 2002, Fok told Reuters. Recession-wracked Japan is expected to have seen 13.3 million PC sales in 2001, with a forecast drop to 11.7 million in 2002 before a recovery in 2003, IDC said. "The market is pretty bad at the moment," Fok said of Japan, while demand continues to grow in China. Top mainland PC maker Legend Holdings enjoyed a 31 per cent market share on its home turf during the first three quarters of 2001, IDC said. Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.