DailyTech - Hitachi Exits PC Market

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IT Hitachi Exits PC Market
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - October 25, 2007 8:38 AM

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30 comment(s) - last by JoeyCrash2.. on Oct 26 at 5:09 PM

Hitachi will drop the consumer PC market and focus on other business sectors

Computer maker Hitachi officially exited the personal computer (PC) market, claiming the company will offer computers specifically for the broadcasting industry, a growing market.

Hitachi struggled against global powerhouses Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo in Japan, the only market it targeted. The Hitachi Prius line of PCs will continue to be sold until the end of the shopping season before Hitachi stops marketing the products.

The company’s Toyokawa factory will shift towards manufacturing server-based products for corporations. Hitachi began contracting other PC manufacturers to HP earlier in 2007. The PC sector accounted for only $608 million in revenue for the company - less than 1 percent of its total revenue.

According to numbers compiled by MM Research Institute, Hitachi managed to ship 580,000 PCs in Japan in one year. The lackluster numbers put Hitachi in eighth position behind competitors such as NEC, Dell, Toshiba and Fujitsu. Japanese manufacturer NEC also is suffering in the global PC market due to Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Hitachi will continue to diversify with products in other markets ranging from rice cookers to nuclear power. The Financial Times published an article stating Hitachi may sell its hard drive unit, which recently introduced the most energy efficient desktop hard drives in the world.

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Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 8:47:17 AM , Rating: 5

I wasn't even aware that Hitachi actually made full PC's. I knew they made hard drives, batteries, etc. But not sure I have ever seen an full Hitachi desktop or laptop. Has anyone else?

RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Spivonious on 10/25/2007 8:48:44 AM , Rating: 1

Same here. They really didn't do any mass-marketing at all.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By sviola on 10/25/2007 9:53:16 AM , Rating: 5

quote:
Hitachi struggled against global powerhouses Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo in Japan, the only market it targeted.

Maybe because they only sold in Japan?

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 10:17:50 AM , Rating: 2

That would probably be a good reason lol.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By paperfist on 10/25/2007 11:55:16 AM , Rating: 2

I'm not 100% sure if they still made their Deskstar HDs or not, but I've always liked them. I think I recall them having sold that division a couple of years ago.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Myrandex on 10/25/2007 12:42:22 PM , Rating: 2

IBM used to make the DeathStar hard drives, however IBM sold their HDD business and Hitachi bought it, and yes they still make 'em.
Jason

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By leexgx on 10/25/2007 10:34:02 PM , Rating: 2

DeathStar is why i do not buy them any more to many fails, there lame excuse about not been able to run 24 hrs (something to do with the Micro dust tech or something)

But on the flip side i do think thay are the best performing hard disks around, as i think thay have Best wait to ready time, allways thought thay was faster then other hdds allso the are as quite as samsung hdds when you use there tool to Set the acoustics to Low on them IBM/Hitachi dives

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By FITCamaro on 10/25/2007 9:38:27 AM , Rating: 1

Heh. I thought the same exact thing.

About the only product Hitachi makes that I'd be interested in is their TVs. Very good TVs.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/07, Rating: 0

RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Spuke on 10/25/2007 11:53:05 AM , Rating: 1

quote:
32" Sharp Aquos, which will now be mounted in the bathroom for viewing in the jacuzzi tub.

Relegating the Aquos to the shitter? For shame!

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 12:05:45 PM , Rating: 1

Lol, its one of the first generation Aquos. Nice picture, but too small.

Besides Aquos and water have a nice ring to them, no?

And technically, my "shitter" is in a closet of sorts in the bathroom, there is no tv, but there is a telephone!

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Polynikes on 10/25/2007 12:33:40 PM , Rating: 3

Must be nice to have enough money for a flat-screen TV in the bathroom.

I thought my 20" widescreen PC monitor was nice.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 1:18:57 PM , Rating: 2

That is a nice monitor. Im still using a basic Dell 17" analog LCD monitor plugged into my laptop docking station.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Polynikes on 10/25/2007 6:40:23 PM , Rating: 2

Prior to this I had a 15" LCD, which I'd had for 5 years. It was definitely time for an upgrade. :)

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By FITCamaro on 10/25/2007 1:06:42 PM , Rating: 1

I've got a 42" Samsung DLP. Paid $900 for it almost a year ago. Was normally $1600 at the time.

My parents have a 57" Hitachi rear projection thats about 4 years old. Excellent TV.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 1:15:15 PM , Rating: 2

When I bought my Sharp Aquos 32" for almost $2500, I thought I got a great deal at the time! haha.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By BladeVenom on 10/25/2007 9:53:59 AM , Rating: 2

If you had or remember the Dell Inspiron 700m, that was basically a Hitachi PriusGear J Series.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By retrospooty on 10/25/2007 10:03:35 AM , Rating: 2

I used to repair their notebooks, but they dropped out of that market over 5 years ago as well. The PC division gets no support from corp, they are left dangling on their own. Its a political mess.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Polynikes on 10/25/2007 12:35:33 PM , Rating: 2

No, I haven't, but I don't live in Japan.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Griswold on 10/25/2007 1:00:18 PM , Rating: 2

Cant blame you, this ignorance is widespread. You probably also didnt know that Hyundai makes PCs - although, that is more widely known than Hitachi PCs.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 1:17:20 PM , Rating: 2

I didnt know that part either. I knew they made monitors, tv's, and nuclear powered chopstix.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By MADAOO7 on 10/25/2007 1:39:51 PM , Rating: 2

I wasn't even aware that they made that much money! $600M only being 1% of revenue. Holy crap!

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By mcnabney on 10/25/2007 5:24:01 PM , Rating: 2

That means Hitachi brings in $60B. Maybe in Yen, but not in dollars.

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RE: Hitachi made computers?

By Belard on 10/25/2007 3:11:33 PM , Rating: 2

Well... USA isn't the only place people buys computers ;)

Samsung makes PCs for its own Koren Markets, desktops and notebooks for years.

Toshiba used to sell PCs in the USA - about 10 years ago.

Packard Bell is still in business - they left the USA market about 8 years ago, but are still going strong in Europe.

Check out these older computers from around the world:
http://oldcomputers.net/index.html
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/default.asp

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Huh?

By daBKLYNdoorman on 10/25/2007 8:45:31 AM , Rating: 3

Hitachi began contracting other PC manufacturers to HP earlier in 2007.

Huh?

RE: Huh?

By mdogs444 on 10/25/2007 8:49:25 AM , Rating: 2

Im not exactly sure either - but from what I get out of that statement is that perhaps Hitachi used to do manufacturing of specific hardware and maybe assembly for computer companies, and has now guided them to HP for this type of work.

I could be wrong though.

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Shrimp Fried Rice anyone?

By phaxmohdem on 10/25/2007 12:18:10 PM , Rating: 5

So where can I get one of those Hitachi nuclear rice-cookers?

Darn

By Sebec on 10/25/2007 12:39:12 PM , Rating: 3

Darn, guess that means no more Prius ads with Misaki Ito. :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI796_bi7oU

it was to be expected

By DeepBlue1975 on 10/25/2007 11:04:59 AM , Rating: 2

I guess the only PC OEMs left will be the bigger ones: HP,Dell, Acer and the likes... With company buy outs being at the order of the day, I wouldn't be surprised if they start buying out each other.

In a business branch where there are really big players, the smaller ones will end up shutting down or being bought by the bigger ones, as competition is really too hard in such circumstances.

"Deathstar" Issue

By JoeyCrash2 on 10/26/2007 5:09:34 PM , Rating: 2

I asked an IBM insider about the "Deathstar" issue about a year ago, since I had such a bad experience back in the late 90's / early 2000's and had also crossed all IBM/Hitachi HDD's off my list. He told me a long story about the whole deal and what it really comes down to is one of their large HDD assembly plants in China was to blame.
After hearing repeated complaints and tracking all failures to this one plant, they sent some American reps over to check things out. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 95% of all drives that came out of that facility failed quality control tests! I had to do with extremely poor contamination control - dust, dirt, and rodents in the factory. The clean rooms were not being kept clean, rats were roaming around the conveyor areas, etc. They promptly shut down the plant and ordered a massive cleanup. I don't think it was back in service for 11 months or so.
It, along with all other plants, were then ordered to tighten their contamination control and quality control standards. So it shouldn't really be a problem anymore.