Johnson Health Promotes New Massage Chairs Worldwide

Taipei, July 1, 2008 (CENS)--Johnson Health Tech Co., Taiwan-basedand world- leading manufacturer of fitness and gym equipment,launched late last month its newly developed massage chairs inEurope, with debuts to follow in Taiwan, China and Southeast Asiaearly July, as well as North America in the third quarter of thisyear.

K.C. Lo, company chairman, disclosed that the R&D center for thechairs is in Japan while manufacturing is in China. Currently theglobal market value of massage chairs is about NT$60 billion(US$1.94 billion at US$1 = NT$31) per year, which is estimated torise annually 2%-3%; and Japan is the largest market for suchchairs.

Johnson Health`s massage chairs are CE certified, so are legallymarketable in Europe, firstly in Germany, Italy, France, U.K. andSpain.

In addition, the chairs are ISO13458 certified in Japan, with aspecial medical certificate pending for distribution there. Lo saidthat the massage chairs will be promoted in Japan as soon as suchmedical certificate is granted, likely as early as the fourthquarter of the year. If all goes well, Johnson will become thefirst foreign massage chair supplier in Japan.

The massage chairs currently promoted by Johnson Health are of mid-and high-tier, while it is planning to develop top-end models toserve upscale consumers. Lo noted that such top-end massage chairswould be debuted as early as the end of this year, with projectedprices to be around NT$160,000-200,000 (US$5,161-6,451), almostequaling Japan`s top-brand counterparts.

In addition to in-house development, Johnson is also the agent forJapan`s leading massage chair brands, namely, Panasonic and Sanyo,which the company sells through its global marketing channels.

Taking advantage of lower manufacturing cost in China, Johnson isquite optimistic about the future of its massage chairs worldwide,with predicted revenues from such chairs to likely account for30%-40% of total corporate turnover within five years.