Microsoft Corp.'s decision to delay the launch of its Vista operating system is unlikely to have much impact on the Japanese personal computer sector, an electronics industry group said on Thursday.
Microsoft earlier this week said it planned to delay the consumer launch of its eagerly awaited Vista operating system to January 2007 from its earlier target of the second half of 2006, sending shares in PC manufacturers and microchip makers lower.
"It's only natural that a sense of disappointment spreads among consumers," said Tadashi Okamura, chairman of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association.
"But PC demand remains brisk, leading to a shortage of components. It's unlikely that the delay will have a major impact on the PC industry. We are not worried too much about it," said Okamura, who is also chairman of Toshiba Corp., a major notebook computer maker.
Okamura's comments echo those of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. , which said on Thursday it expected no material impact from the delayed release. Since the Tuesday announcement of the delay, shares in Toshiba have lost 0.9 percent, under-performing the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index IELEC, which has dipped 0.2 percent.
Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, has fallen 4.1 percent over the same period, while the broader South Korean stock market slid 1.8 percent.
The Vista system is expected to require more than twice as much memory capacity as its predecessors, potentially boosting demand for standard memory chips used in PCs.
