SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : Toshiba Borrows Page From Pepsi in Marketing ‘Notebook’ Computer

At prices ranging from $2,700 to $4,000, the new “notebook” computers from Toshiba America Information Systems are hardly in the same consumer product category as 75-cent cans of Pepsi. But that hasn’t stopped the Irvine-based subsidiary of the Japanese electronics giant from borrowing a page from the annals of soft-drink marketing.

When Toshiba launched its miniature personal computers last week, it also unveiled a sales campaign dubbed “The Toshiba Challenge.” Like its counterpart in the cola wars, the Toshiba Challenge asks consumers to compare the merits of its product with that of the larger, more established competitor--in this case, Compaq Computer Corp.

Bill Johnson, vice president and general manager of Toshiba’s computer systems division, says that nearly 200 people in eight cities have taken a “blind” comparative test so far, and the large majority have preferred the Toshiba products. Toshiba said it has hired an independent research firm to conduct the tests, in which computer users are asked to compare the features of two unidentified notebook computers.

The Toshiba machines are better, Johnson says, because they offer a screen that’s much easier to read as well as a full-size, sculpted keyboard.

So confident is Johnson of the products’ merits that he is predicting that Toshiba will capture more than 50% of the notebook market, which he says now stands at 40,000 to 50,000 units per month and is growing at 60% a year.

But even if Toshiba wins the short-term challenge--and critics say one of the Toshiba models will be hurt by the lack of a floppy disk drive and all suffer from a shorter battery life than their rivals--it won’t be able to rest on its laurels. Johnson said NEC Corp.

and Compaq are preparing new entries in the category.