What’s doing in Japan?

The Nikkei News Service cited a Mitsubishi Electric Corp survey that as many as 69 percent of companies expect to need facsimile machines even after the spread of e-mail. The survey queried 278 firms capitalized at more than 100 million yen. Only 26 percent said they won’t need to use faxes.

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed consider e-mail superior in terms of real-time functions, but 38 percent said e-mail is not better than faxes. Many respondents appreciated the sense of security provided by paper faxes. Nearly 80 percent wanted personal computers with facsimile functions.