8/10/2020 Toshiba shuts the lid on laptops after 35 years - BBC News

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Toshiba shuts the lid on laptops after 35 years

By Zoe Kleinman
Technology reporter, BBC News

3 hours ago

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO

The Japanese giant Toshiba has sold its final stake in the personal computer maker
Dynabook.

It means the firm no longer has a connection with making PCs or laptops.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53721016 1/11
8/10/2020 Toshiba shuts the lid on laptops after 35 years - BBC News

Sharp bought 80% of Toshiba's personal computing arm in 2018 for $36m (£27m), and has
now bought the remaining shares, Toshiba said in a statement.

Toshiba's first laptop, the T1100, launched in 1985. It weighed 4kg (8.8 pounds) and worked
with 3.5 inch (8.8cm) floppy disks.

It was launched at first only in Europe with an annual sales target of 10,000 units, according
to the Toshiba Science Museum website.

JOHANN H. ADDICKS/WIKIPEDIA

In 2011 Toshiba sold more than 17m PCs but by 2017 this had fallen to 1.9m, reported
Reuters at the time.

In 2016, it had ceased making consumer laptops for the European market, focusing only on
hardware for businesses.

Recent years have been difficult for the conglomerate: in 2015, the firm posted a full-year
loss of $318m.

That same year its president and vice-president resigned after an independent panel found
the company had overstated its profits for the previous six years.

In 2019, it wound up its nuclear business NuGen in the UK after failing to find a buyer for
it.

Consumer demand for laptops has soared in the last few months because of the Coronavirus
pandemic and global lockdowns, but overall, the market for personal computers has been
tough for quite a while, said analyst Marina Koytcheva from the firm CCS Insight.

"Only those who have managed to sustain scale and price (like Lenovo), or have a premium
brand (like Apple) have succeeded in the unforgiving PC market, where volumes have been
falling for years," she said.

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