Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industry Association (JEITA) just announced production figures for desktop computer through February 2010.  PC production for the month was 2.49 million units, a strong 33.5% increase compared to the same month last year. This was the third consecutive month of year-on-year production gains. In Yen terms this represented a 32.2% yearly increase and a return to positive value gains compared to January 2010.

The JEITA desktop PC data includes both business and personal PCs. As a trend indication of consumer buying this data is less significant than it was in the the 1990s and before, before the mobile phone became  the most important computing and internet access device for much of the Japanese population. Also, as the Japanese government's "u-Japan" initiative (heavily promoting ubiquitous computing) implies, laptops and smart phones are expected to become the main computing devices in Japan.

Desktop PC Shipments

Source: JMR charting of raw data from JEITA