NIKKEI BP

NEC Ranks Top for Three Years in a Row for Overall Support Nikkei Personal Computing Releases “PC Manufacturer Support Ranking

Tokyo – August 24, 2006 – Nikkei Personal Computing, a magazine published by Nikkei BP (President & CEO: Seiichi Oteru; Tokyo), released in its August 28 issue "PC Manufacturer Support Ranking 2006", evaluating PC manufacturers's support services.

Based on a survey conducted with consumers who had purchased a PC from certain manufacturers and used the manufacturer's support service during the period between April 2005 and March 2006, the ranking was determined by converting the survey results into scores (valid response=2,938). The survey, conducted annually, marks the eighth this year.

Respondents were asked to evaluate six aspects of support - overall support, web support, mail support, telephone support, repairs, and manual. Included in the survey were 11 PC manufacturers: MCJ, NEC, Epson Direct, Gateway, Sharp, Dell, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Matsushita Electric Industrial, and Lenovo Japan. Sony and Japan Hewlett-Packard, participants of the last year's survey, were excluded this time upon their request for withdrawal prior to the beginning of this year's survey.

NEC came to top in the category of overall support, holding the top spot for three consecutive years. The company finished in the first and second place in phone support and manual, respectively, winning a high level of satisfaction from users especially in phone support.

The second top in overall support was Epson Direct, which also won the second place last year. Ranking top in mail support and finishing in second or third place in the other categories, the company was apparently appreciated for its overall quality of support.

The second runner-up was Toshiba, which rose significantly from last year's seventh. The company won a high level of satisfaction in mail support, phone support, and repairs.

The satisfaction level of overall support has improved in many of the eleven manufacturers since last year, indicating their emphasis on support service.

In addition to detailed ranking of each category, the August 28 issue of Nikkei Personal Computing also features efforts made by these PC manufacturers in improving their support services.

Overall Support

Rank	(Last yr)	Company name	Satisfaction level	(Last yr)
1	1	NEC	1.40	1.28
2	2	Epson Direct	1.22	1.00
3	7	Toshiba	1.12	0.62
4	4	Fujitsu	1.01	0.79
5	3	Lenovo Japan	1.00	0.98
6	6	Sharp	0.83	0.71
7	5	Matsushita	0.71	0.77
8	-	Gateway	0.70	-
9	7	Hitachi	0.60	0.62
10	9	Dell	0.51	0.41
11	-	MCJ	0.09	-
		Average	0.84	0.79

Web Support

Rank	(Last yr)	Company name	Satisfaction level
1	1	NEC	0.92
2	3	Epson Direct	0.89
3	2	Lenovo Japan	0.88
4	4	Fujitsu	0.85
5	4	Sharp	0.76

Mail Support

Rank	(Last yr)	Company name	Satisfaction level
1	1	Epson Direct	1.15
2	4	Toshiba	0.95
3	2	Lenovo Japan	0.91
4	2	Fujitsu	0.86
5	5	Matsushita	0.57

Telephone Support

Rank	(Last yr)	Company name	Satisfaction level
1	1	NEC	1.5
2	2	Epson Direct	1.38
3	8	Toshiba	1.38
4	4	Fujitsu	1.2
5	3	Sharp	1.08

Repair

Rank	(Last yr)	Company name	Satisfaction level
1	8	Sharp	1.34
2	1	Epson Direct	1.29
3	5	Toshiba	1.2
4	3	Lenovo Japan	1.04
5	4	Fujitsu	0.97

Manual

Rank	(Last yr)	Company name	Satisfaction level
1	4	Sharp	0.96
2	1	NEC	0.92
3	2	Epson Direct	0.86
4	6	Fujitsu	0.76
5	3	Lenovo Japan	0.72

<About the Survey>

* Calculation Method: The average was calculated, with 2 points for "satisfied", 1 point for "somewhat satisfied", 0 point for "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied", -1 point for "somewhat dissatisfied", and -2 points for "dissatisfied". The valid response from 2,938 respondents was collected.
* MCJ and Gateway joined the survey from this year. eMachines brand PCs are included in Gateway PCs.
* NEC and Sharp do not have mail support and are therefore excluded from the mail support ranking.

<About Nikkei Personal Computing>

Nikkei Personal Computing is a comprehensive PC magazine that introduces useful tips and trends in hardware, software, and the Internet, to those who use a PC at home and work regularly. Published biweekly, it has the largest circulation of 291,366 (ABC 2004) in the field in the country.

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About NikkeiBP

Nikkei Business Publications is part of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun group, the world's largest group of companies providing mainly business and financial information for most Japan's decision makers. Covering a wide variety of specialized areas including business, computer, electronics, construction, services and medicine, Nikkei Business Publications is the number one business publisher in Japan. As of December 7, we publish 39 magazines and 3 newsletters, reaching a combined total readership of over 2.3 million.

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