![]() Software developers had to tailor slightly different versions of their word processors, spreadsheets, and the like to fit each manufacturer's machine. So each of the major Japanese computer manufacturers - NEC, Fujitsu, and Toshiba, among others - ''Japanized'' the standard PC hardware and operating system software for themselves in different and often incompatible ways. In the early days of the industry the IBM-compatible PCs so prevalent in the U.S. The most obvious difference stems from the unique nature of the Japanese language, which requires that PCs display and manipulate kanji pictograms rather than the Roman alphabet. The Japanese PC market is a strange beast, especially compared with the rest of the world. Apple has publicly set the ambitious goal of doubling annual sales in Japan to $1 billion by 1995. IBM Japan has become more aggressive too, lowering prices on a family of machines designed and made in Japan to suit local tastes. Compaq and Dell, which both entered the market only last year, already have forced the Japanese to slash prices. The Japanese are dithering over how to react. The Americans are attacking with spiffy machines, a new Japanese-language version of Microsoft's hot-selling Windows, and sharply lower prices. Even so, America's biggest PC makers think the Japanese behemoths are suddenly vulnerable in the brave new world of more graphic and powerful hardware and software. Together they delivered a little more than 6% of the PCs sold last year, with IBM accounting for the largest share. IBM and America's leading makers of IBM-compatible PCs - Compaq Computer and Dell Computer - have struggled. Still, Apple's share in Japan is only half what it has in the U.S. NEC is dominant, with 53.4%, followed by Fujitsu, which has just 9.8%. The sprightly Macintosh accounted for 8.3% of the 2.2 million PCs sold in Japan last year, according to Dataquest, good for third place. Apple Computer has done best over the years. Japanese electronics giants took the rest. The PC business in Japan has followed a familiar story line so far: Though American companies invented the industry, continue to drive its innovation, and dominate it everywhere else in the world, they had just 15% of Japan's $6 billion market last year. ![]() makers of personal computers, suddenly confident of their ability to beat the Japanese, are out to replicate - and perhaps outdo - their chipmaking colleagues. ![]() ![]() What really swayed Japanese customers to buy American? The basics - quality, uniqueness, performance, and price. semiconductor makers have nearly doubled their market share in Japan, to 20%, and arm-twisting government trade negotiators get only part of the credit. (FORTUNE Magazine) – WHO SAYS American companies can't compete against Japanese giants on their home turf? In the past three years U.S. ![]()
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