Source: Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
DVD Player Shipments In Japan More Than Doubled In December
Domestic shipments of digital video disc players more than doubled in December 1999, posting the biggest gains among Japan's major consumer electronics products, according to the Electronic Industries Association of Japan. Shipments of DVD-Video players rose 103 percent to 75,000 units compared with December 1998. For the full-year 1999, the total number of DVD-Video players shipped reached 388,000, up from 239,000 in 1998. Minidisc, or MD, players also saw rapid growth. December shipments of stereo systems with MD players rose 27 percent to 379,000 from the same month a year ago, while those of portable MD players rose to 448,000, a 12.4 percent increase from December 1998. For the full-year 1999, stereo-MD system shipments were up 44 percent to 2.28 million, while shipments of portable MD players rose by 19 percent to 2.66 million units. Heady gains were seen in shipments of satellite-television dishes, which rose 63 percent to 82,000 in December from the same month a year earlier. For the entire year, dish shipments were up 1.2 percent. Other electronic products, however, lagged behind. Color TV shipments rose 1.1 percent to 1.39 million units in December and fell 0.6 percent overall for the year. Growth in automobile accessories was spotty. Shipments of car navigation systems, compact disc players and MD players rose on year, but car radios, cassette/stereos and color television shipments fell. The Electronic Industries Association of Japan includes such Japanese electronics giants as Sony Corporation (SNE), Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., NEC Corporation (NIPNY), Toshiba Corporation and Sharp Corporation.