Hitachi mulls European PC power play

With fresh IDC market research giving it 12th spot in US portable vendors for the second quarter of 1996 despite only having launched in May, the firm said that a move into Europe is likely. "I think that given that it's so successful in the US, [Hitachi] must be looking at Europe," said Mark Wilkin, marketing manager for Hitachi's business systems division.

Hitachi is already a player in monitors in Europe so the stub of a distribution channel is already in place. Toshiba and Sony have already kicked off consumer PC campaigns in the US and Japanese companies are seeing the rise of the SoHo market as a means of leveraging their brand names, despite a dismal record in systems. Only Toshiba has established itself a s a serious PC company despite many attempts to build share by firms like Nippon Steel.