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Topic: Hardware

Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

Summary: Sharp is canceling most of its Galapagos tablet line due to low sales in its home country of Japan.

James Kendrick

By for Mobile News |

Another tablet line has fallen victim to the iPad effect, as Sharp is canceling all of its Galapagos tablet line with the exception of the 7-inch model. The Galapagos line was only launched 9 months ago, showing Sharp had a little more staying power despite low sales than HP with the TouchPad line.

Sharp will stop taking orders for both the 5.5 and the 10.8-inch tablets on September 30. The tablets have been available in Sharp's home territory of Japan, and were launched with Sharp's ebookstore to much fanfare. Sales have apparently been poor enough to warrant killing most of the line, not surprising as the iPad has 64.8 percent of the Japanese market. That leaves a lot of competitors scrambling for the small remaining share.

HP started a furor when it cancelled its TouchPad only a few weeks after launch due to poor sales. The subsequent firesale of TouchPad inventory sparked sales that pushed the tablet into the number two spot behind the iPad. The circumstances were unusual, but showed that if all factors lined up buyers would buy a tablet without an Apple logo on the back.

As the only tablet to make a dent in the tablet space, research firm Canalys believes that HP should revive the TouchPad line and by doing so the company could double or triple the worth of its PC division with such a move. That is extremely optimistic, but Canalys does make some interesting points in its research note.

The tablet space is proving how hard it is to break into, and successfully competing with the iPad is required to do so. Sharp's Galapagos tablets join the HP TouchPad on the failed slate list that is beginning to grow.

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Topics: Hardware, Laptops, Mobility, Tablets

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21 comments
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  • the reason for the flop

    was the reliance on M$ and its IP.
    Other android tablet makers are doing just fine.
    The Linux Geek
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

      @The Linux Geek You sir, are a deluded fool.
      Bates_
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

      @The Linux Geek This does not even make any sense. Are you saying that it failed because of its operating system and any company that uses this OS will fail? OK, then....it was using Android.
      Your Non Advocate
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

        @facebook@...
        I don't know what OS was using, but it has a lot to do with M$ lawsuit threats: http://techrights.org/2010/04/30/foley-and-enderle-re-htc/
        The Linux Geek
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

        @The Linux Geek
        If you don't know what OS it was using, why didn't you just search for it before exposing your nakedness here.
        Ram U
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

        @Rama.NET
        because M$ will attack anything that is not windoze or does not pay the M$ tax.
        The Linux Geek
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

        @The Linux Geek

        If they were being discontinued because of lawsuit threats, why are they still making the 7" model, using the same OS? Are the threats only against 5" and 10" models?
        msalzberg
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

      @The Linux Geek

      Other tablet makers may be fine as a whole, but looking at marketshare, and looking past marketing spin, it doesn't seem like anyone but Apple can be considered a success at this point.
      piousmonk
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

      @The Linux Geek Isn't this an Android based tablet as well? Oh, wait a minute... It IS an Android based tablet: [b]...Sharp's 7-inch tablet running Android 3.2? Yeah, it's taking its sweet time arriving stateside, though our friends in Japan can get the Galapagos A01SH now for a starting price of... $1 (??100). [/b]... taken from this link:

      http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/30/sharp-galapagos-a01sh-tablet-goes-on-sale-in-japan-from-1-come/

      So this being an Android based tablet tell us just HOW this could be a "reliance" on Microsoft and it's IP? Oh wait, that's right, there's that pesky little fee that Android OEM have to pay Microsoft for each device due to IP licensing (formerly IP infringement)... sucks for Android OEMs to be caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

    Honestly, a show of hands please, who didn't see this coming?

    In the tablet market, there is no winning. There is losing, and surviving. Samsung, Acer, ASUS, and maybe Motorolla will all be able to survive, somewhat comfortably (maybe even Sony), but I just see untimely death for all others thinking they can make some bank in this market.
    Bates_
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

    They just needed to cut their price to $99.
    chapelhillice
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

      @chapelhillice And lose any chance at profit.
      Bates_
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

        @Bates_
        Apparently they can make it up in volume. (If you believe the pundits bloviating about the $99 HP TouchPAD.)
        Synthmeister
        Reply Vote

  • Not the Sharpest tablet in the drawer

    The speculation that HP cancelled the TouchPad due to poor sales could be way off the mark. That's not to say that sales were excitingly good, only that the cancellation came as part of a much larger decision to exit the client end of the computer business. Once you decide to jettison the largest PC operation in the world, why would you keep a tablet offering in your product line?

    I agree with the research house that the TouchPad designs and tooling might add some value to the PC division as HP shops it around, but nothing significant. After all, the PC division is huge, while the TouchPad hadn't even left the crib.

    I wonder if Sharp is keeping the 7" model on the market in order to use up its inventory of tablet parts, and once those are gone the 7-incher will bite the dust as well.
    Robert Hahn
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

    Never heard of it!
    davidmpaul
    Reply Vote

  • HP tables is privacy nightmare

    My wife thought she was doing me a favor by ordering me a TouchPad - yah - NOT. The first thing they tell you to do is set up a webOS account, or if will not work. Like I really want to give Leo * Co. a chance to invade my privacy & mine my data???? No way. Then I check & see there are absolutely no security features in the thing. How brain damaged is THAT?
    In addition, I discovered there is no way to connect any kind of external storage device, or secondary display. That does it. The piece of crap is on it's way back.
    Willnott
    Reply Vote

    • Thank you dear

      Let us know the next time you get any.
      Robert Hahn
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

    There are just too many tablet makers and not enough buyers. Its not like the cell phone market where people do have a legit need for a phone. Most don't have a legit need for a tablet and can't justify getting one just for fun. Ironic thing is the good phones generally cost as much if not more than tablets. But the subsidies from providers mask their true cost.

    My tablet is a just for fun device. After I overclocked it, changed up the behavior of the buttons and do other things to it as a proof of concept I really did nothing more with it. It just sits in my living room as a clock now. From time to time I may browse with it instead of my phone. But for the most part its pretty useless. When I leave the house and I need a device, my ultra portable goes with me. The risk of not getting what I need done on a tablet usually means I don't bother with the tablet. Thats just reality.
    rengek
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Sharp Galapagos tablets join HP TouchPad in the canceled bin

    Galapagos? Who came up with THAT name? Fail from the start.
    mauricejunior
    Reply Vote

  • The subject of a sentence

    ???As the only tablet to make a dent in the tablet space, research firm Canalys believes that HP should revive the TouchPad line ??? ???.

    Are you *seriously* suggesting that Canalys is a *tablet*? Either stop taking drugs, or start; there is no middle ground.
    mediumcool
    Reply Vote
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