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Printer sales drop in Asia

Demand for printers in the region declined 8.7 percent in the second quarter of 1998, according to a report.

Amidst economic turmoil in Asia, demand for printers in the region declined 8.7 percent in the second quarter of 1998, according to a Dataquest report.

Printer shipments dropped to 1.6 million units for the Asia/Pacific region, and Dataquest's report forecasts further shipment declines for the next year.

"With the heavy erosion of IT spending in the recessionary economies of Asia/Pacific this year, Datquest anticipates a regional decline in total end-user printer spending of about 25 percent in 1998 as compared with 1997," Dataquest analyst Lane Leskela said in a statement.

In spite of this gloomy forecast and the regional downturn in shipments, China reported sharp growth in printer units, as shipments grew 77 percent in the same quarter.

India's printer demand also leaped, up 33 percent compared with the same quarter last year.

The three industry leaders in the printer market, Dataquest said, are Hewlett-Packard with 31.5 percent of the market, followed by Seiko Epson with 27.6 percent, and Canon with 16 percent of the market.