Why the Japanese PC Failed
Asianometry・2 minutes read
NEC dominated the Japanese PC market with the PC 98 standard before being disrupted by Wintel, leading to a decline in market share as competitors like Toshiba and Fujitsu embraced Windows-compatible machines. Fujitsu's aggressive price cuts and shift to Windows led to a significant increase in market share, while NEC phased out the PC98 architecture in favor of DOS 5, marking the end of an era of Japanese software isolation.
Insights
- Wintel, composed of Microsoft and Intel, disrupted NEC's 15-year dominance in the Japanese PC market by introducing powerful microprocessors and software solutions that enabled handling of East Asian languages, leading to a decline in NEC's market share and the entry of foreign competitors like Compaq.
- NEC's success in the Japanese PC market was built on specialized Japanese language support, a robust distribution network, and a vast library of third-party software, but their failure to adapt to the shift towards Windows-compatible applications and aggressive pricing strategies by competitors like Fujitsu ultimately led to the end of the PC98 era and marked a significant shift in the Japanese software landscape.
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Recent questions
How did NEC dominate the Japanese PC market?
NEC held 60% market share with PC 98 standard.