Nippon Electric's Microcomputer Sales Section of the Electronic Device Sales Division launched the
PC-8001 in September 1979, and by 1981 it accounted for 40% of the Japanese personal computer market. In April 1981, Nippon Electric decided to expand personal computer lines into three groups: New Nippon Electric, Information Processing Group and Electronic Devices Group, with each specializing in a particular series. The Microcomputer Sales Section was reformed to the Microcomputer and Application Division in June 1980, and was renamed to the Personal Computer Division in April 1981. At that time, Japanese personal computers were mostly used by hobbyists. The division introduced the
PC-8801 in November 1981 and intended to expand the personal computer market into the business world. In addition to office software, companies like
Enix and
Koei released many popular games for the system, establishing the PC-8801 as a strong gaming platform. By November 1983, the
PC-8801 had shipped 170,000 units. The PC-8801's direct successor, the
PC-8801mkII, came with a
JIS level 1 kanji font ROM, a smaller case and keyboard, and, in the models 20 and 30, one or two internal 5-inch 2D
floppy disk drives. This set of PC-8800 computers sold more units than the PC-9800 series at that time. By December 1983, NEC had multiple personal computer lines coming out from different divisions. NEC's Information Processing group had the PC-9800 series, and NEC Home Electronics had the
PC-6000 series. To avoid competing with itself, NEC decided to consolidate their personal computer business into two divisions; the NEC Home Electronics division dealt with the 8-bit home computer line, and the Information Processing group dealt with the 16-bit personal computer line. The Electronic Device Sales division spun off personal computer business into NEC Home Electronics. In March 1985, NEC Home Electronics introduced the
PC-8801mkIISR, which had improved graphics and sound capabilities. Although the PC-9801VM shipments surpassed it, ==Hardware==