Packaged PC Software Market Report 1998

June 1, 1999 JPSA released the 1998 Japan's Packaged PC Software Market size.

The Size of the Japan's Packaged PC Software Market Reached 592.4 Billion Yen in 1998

Japan Personal Computer Software Association (JPSA, Chairman Tsukasa Takehara) conducted the research on the trend of Japan's packaged PC software market in 1998. The research contains the result of the survey that represents feedback of approximately 1,000 companies including both the member and the non-members of JPSA. It looks into the shipments between January and December 1998 on the packaged PC software shipment. This report will be published under the title as "The Research of PC Software Market Trend in 1998" in the beginning of June (for public distribution)

According to the research, the market size of the packaged PC software increased by 1.8% from 582 billion yen in the previous year to 592 billion yen in 1998. Within the figure, the sales amount of the packaged PC software was 490.8 billion yen (101.9% increase from the previous year), and that of pre-installed or bundled software with the PC and peripherals at 101.6 billion yen (101.2% increase from the previous year).

Although the result of total PC shipment in 1998 was 7,016,000 units (*1), and was about the same as the previous year, the OS and the network OS market increased by 1.9% thanks to the release of Windows 98. At the same time, the success of MacOS, accompanying the launch of iMac, and Linux became also the topics of the year, but did not eventually contribute much to the increase of the value shipment of the overall market.

In addition to the above, products such as "E mail/groupware", "transaction processing utilities", and "industrial application packages", thanks to the expanded demand in the client/server computing of the previous year, together with the "tools/languages" and "communication software", increased their shipment by license base largely compared to that of the previous year. However shipment amount increased only by 10% due to the decrease of unit prices. On the other hand, word processing and spread sheet software, which are basic elements of office related product (*2), tend to be shipped consolidated as an office package and their unit shipment as a result decreased.

Note *1: Based on the survey by Japan Electronic Industry Development Association.

*2: This research differentiates the office related products into the word processing and spread sheet software.


PC Packaged Software Market Trend
(Million Yen)
199619971996/199719981997/1998
Package Only Sales418,255.5481,674.5115.2%490,808.1101.9%
Bundled Sales84,281.5100,398.7119.1%101,635.0101.2%
Total Packaged Software Sales502,537.0582,073.2115.8%592,443.1101.8%
JPSA/AMI, 1999
(Million Yen)
JPSA/AMI, 1999


PC Packaged Software Market Trend by Category
CategoryShippins Price(Million Yen)Share(%)1997/1998(%)
199619971998199619971998
OS/Network OS90,346.0114,648.2116,881.118.0%19.7%19.7%101.9%
Word Processors66,147.063,897.061,834.013.2%11.0%10.4%96.8%
Spreadsheets34,344.032,710.031,169.46.8%5.6%5.3%95.3%
Database Software28,048.031,283.035,177.35.6%5.4%5.9%112.4%
Presentation22,899.024,880.025,214.94.6%4.3%4.3%101.3%
Graphics16,253.023,096.023,346.63.2%4.0%3.9%101.1%
Development Tool/Language18,625.020,710.022,718.23.7%3.6%3.8%109.7%
E-Mail/Groupeware/Application Server Software15,048.026,675.029,164.13.0%4.6%4.9%109.3%
Communication Software28,366.034,755.038,270.55.6%6.0%6.5%110.1%
Operating Management/Utility23,570.043,110.048,201.64.7%7.4%8.1%111.8%
Business Software20,584.026,391.027,987.74.1%4.5%4.7%106.1%
CAD34,999.034,266.033,990.97.0%5.9%5.7%99.2%
Educational Software and Learning10,335.011,130.011,550.72.1%1.9%1.9%103.8%
Game15,115.013,478.012,447.13.0%2.3%2.1%92.4%
Data/Contents 27,236.028,946.024,921.55.4%5.0%4.2%86.1%
Others50,622.052,097.749,567.510.1%9.0%8.4%95.1%
Total502,537.0582,072.9592,443.1100.0%100.0%100.0%101.8%
JPSA/AMI, 1999

JPSA/AMI, 1999

PC Software Category
CategoryDefinition
1OS/Network OSOperating System, Network Operating System
2Word ProcessorsWord Processor, Word Processor Add-On、Japanese Front End Processor, DTP, HTML, Editor
3SpreadsheetsSpreadsheets, Spreadsheets Add-on
4Database SoftwareRelational Databases, Flat File Databases, Object Oriented DBMS、DB Accesses
5PresentationPresentation Software
6GraphicsDrawing and Painting, Photo and Image Editor, Animation Creating Software, 2D and 3D Graphics Software
7Development Tool/LanguageScreen Editor, Debugging, CASE, Authoring, C++ and Visual Basic, 4GL、AI and Library, Java Language, WWW Development Tool, OLAP/Data Ware House Related Tool
8E-Mail/Groupeware/
Application Server Software		E-Mail, Web Application Server, E-Comers Server
9Communication SoftwareCmmunication Software, FAX Communication Software, Emulator, Remort Access, Web Browser, Image and Sound Processing Software, Interpretation Software
10Operating Management/UtilitySecurity Management, Job Management, Anti Virus, System Auditing, Network Management, File Converter, Screen Saver, Help Desk Related Software, Hardware and Memory Management, Disk Management, Internet Translation Support, Internet Searching, Web Page Management
11Business SoftwareAccounting, Financing, Tax, Personnel, Payroll, Sales, Inventory, Purchasing Management.
Electric Decision Make Support, ERP
12CADCAD
13Educational Software and LearningEducational Software for Schools and Clam Schools, Educational Software for Private Companies and Vocational Schools,
14GameSimulation, Action, Adventure, Shooting, Roll Playing Game, Igo and Shogi and Other Games
15Data/Contents Clip Art, Font, Form, Diary, Encyclopedia, Zip Code Management, Map, Enhanced CD, Photos, Images
16Others
Home/Hobby/MusicCooking, Calorie calculation for Diet, Home Accounting, Postcard, Album, Sound Data, Edutainment, Table Game such as Majong, Puzzle and others
PIMPersonal Information Management Software（Network, Client, Internet）
Integrated SoftwareIntegrated Software which contains various applications such as MS Works
General Business/Production ManagementVertical Market Products（Hospital, Gas, Running Water, Electric, Banking, Hotel, Real Estate, Printing and Publishing, Transportation, Production Management, Quality Control
Scientific Calculation / AIScientific and Chemical Technical Calculation, Specific Technical Calculation such as Thermal Fluid Analysis Program, Statistics, Image Processing., Expert Systems
OthersAll other software which is not included above definition.
For further information, please contact hattori@jpsa.or.jp