Boosted by the release of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 98 operating system and growth of the home-use consumer market, domestic personal computer shipments increased for the first time in five quarters, an industry association said Monday.

The July-September period saw a year-on-year increase of 9 percent to 1.8 million units, according to the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association.

Officials at the association claimed the continued decline "has hit bottom" in terms of unit sales, on the domestic market. But for the entire first half of the fiscal year, total PC shipments, including both domestic shipments and exports, dropped 11.1 percent to 3.54 million units from the same period of the previous year, the association said.

Combined sales of PCs and PC-related peripheral devices for that period were 1.2 trillion yen, down 13 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to the association. The industry group blamed the nation's prolonged recession and dwindling information investment by businesses.

The average unit cost, meanwhile, continued to slide amid heated price competition, with the latest quarterly domestic PC sales in terms of value at 393.1 billion yen -- almost the same level as those of the same period last year, the association said.