Taking Aim At U.S. Japanese Computer Makers Launch Push Into Competitive American Market

The Japanese proved they can deliver Walkmans and Hondas with pizzazz. But what are their chances in the fiercely competitive U.S. personal computer market?

Up until now, Japanese computer makers, with the exception of Toshiba Corp. in computer notebooks, have been relatively minor players, merely providing parts for the American giants.

Now, they’re determined to gain a foothold in that market.

If they don’t, the Japanese fear they may get left hopelessly behind in computer technology. The personal computer has become the pacesetter, with the U.S. market the most advanced PC market.

Also behind the push is the shift toward the use of computers’ digital technology in such futuristic gadgets as digital video disc players, which will hit Japanese stores today and American stores later this year.

Japanese companies dominate in DVD players, which work with a TV set much like a video cassette recorder to play music and films but offers better sound and pictures. DVDs, which look like music compact discs, will eventually be played on computers as well.

The Japanese think they have a talent for producing sleekly designed home products, giving them an edge in the emerging market of hybrid machines - half-computer and half-electronic products.

“Sony can’t continue to lead the world in concepts unless it does PCs,” said Yoriko Ishikawa of Sony’s product development section. “And once consumers start looking for more entertainment from their PCs, our technology is going to come in handy.”

Taking another crack at a market in which it failed in the 1980s, Sony debuted a desktop in the United States about two months ago.

But overtaking established American computer makers, such as Compaq and IBM, won’t be easy.

No Japanese company is among the top five in the U.S. PC market. Worldwide, NEC Corp. ranked No. 4 during the July-September quarter, while Toshiba zoomed to fifth place from eighth a year ago, according to new figures from market research company Dataquest.

Americans are smart buyers and Japanese companies face fierce price competition from Taiwan and South Korea, said Kun Soo Lee of Dataquest in Tokyo.

“Even if they only get a small percent of the market, the market is so big, it’s worth it,” he said.

The arrival of the Japanese is evident in American computer stores.

Darcel Jackson, supervisor at Baltimore’s Best Buy, says sales are taking off.

Japanese computers, she said in a phone interview, “have a lot of new features that our customers are finding interesting. And, of course, their appearance - they have a Space Age kind of look.”

Toshiba, the world’s top maker of laptop computers, unveiled its Infinia, a snazzy black desktop, in the United States last month.

Its computer screen turns into a TV at a flick of a button built into the monitor or on a remote control. Viewers can watch TV on the screen, or split it, using part for the TV and part for the computer. They can also use the computer to listen to a favorite radio program or music compact discs.

“Up to now, the goal was to have a computer in every home,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, general manager of Toshiba’s PC division. “This is meant as a computer in every room.”

The Infinia faces an aggressive rival in IBM’s sleekly designed Aptiva home PC, which splits the processor from the desktop terminal to take up less space. The Infinia, not yet available in Japan, has won rave reviews.

“It’s in the vanguard of turning the home computer into an entertainment appliance,” said PC Magazine, which named Infinia its editor’s choice of several new home PCs, including the Aptiva S74 and the Sony desktop.

NEC is using a different approach to broaden its customer base in the United States.

It recently invested $450 million in Packard Bell Electronics of the United States. Packard Bell NEC, formed in June after Packard Bell acquired NEC’s PC operations outside Japan, sells both brands of computers in the United States.