Next Inc. and Canon Team to Sell Computers in Japan
The Next computer, Steve Jobs’ newest personal computer, will be distributed in Japan by Canon, a spokesman for the giant Japanese technology and consumer products manufacturer said Wednesday.
The agreement would make Next the second U.S. computer maker in the last 10 days to team up with a major Japanese firm. Last week, Sun Microsystems, a fast-growing Silicon Valley manufacturer, said it had licensed its advanced computer chip technology to Toshiba Corp., which is expected to use it in a new, low-cost personal computer for the Japanese market.
Next Inc. officials in Palo Alto refused to comment on the agreement. However, the company has scheduled a news conference and a tour of its automated, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in the Silicon Valley for next Monday, when insiders said that Jobs, a co-founder of Apple Computer, will announce the deal formally.
News of the distribution pact was confirmed by a spokesman for Canon U.S.A. in New York. He said the machine will be manufactured at Next’s Fremont plant and exported to Japan. The spokesman said the deal is expected to restrict Canon to distributing the Next system in Japan.
Although analysts were taken by surprise by news of the distribution deal, they said there would be many good technological and commercial reasons for it.
Next, the analysts said, would gain an important foothold in Japan, which likely would be a good market for its high-powered and sophisticated personal computers. “Japanese customers like exotic imported products and the Next computer is such a machine,” said Sheridan Patsuno, an analyst with Dataquest, a San Jose high-technology research firm.
For its part, Canon, which already makes a laser printer and other equipment used with the Next computer, would gain an important addition to its office equipment product line. Analysts said Canon can use the Next computer, a machine offering graphics, to help sell its top-of-the-line printers. “You don’t need a fancy laser printer if you don’t have fancy graphic capabilities,” said one analyst.
