First E-bookstore Service Starts in December

On September 27, 2010, Sharp held an announcement in Tokyo to introduce its first cloud-based media service business, an e-bookstore service.

Sharp Corporation will launch a new cloud-based media service business, named "GALAPAGOS", to provide a new user experience that evolves to meet each customer's changing needs with a network service and device specifically designed for the Japanese market. The first effort in this area will be an e-bookstore service that is planned to begin in December of this year. Two compatible tablet terminals have been developed specifically as e-book readers and will be introduced at the same time.

This new e-bookstore provides an "Automatic Scheduled Delivery Service" (a fee-based service) for periodical publications. The most recent editions of newspapers and magazines that a user is subscribed to can be delivered to and read by the user's e-book readers. In addition, free trial versions of recommended e-book content can also be delivered to the e-book reader, letting users immediately purchase the content of their favor.

Two e-book reader models have been developed—a mobile type featuring a 5.5-inch LCD screen that reads like a paperback book, and a home type featuring a 10.8-inch high-resolution HD LCD that allows users to fully enjoy magazines formatted with two-page spreads.

"GALAPAGOS" was chosen as the name for Sharp's cloud-based media service business, as a symbol of the "evolution" of services and terminal devices that constantly bring fresh, new experiences to the user. The name comes from the famous Galapagos Islands, which were visited by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), a British geologist and biologist. The observations he made while on the islands played a key role in the formulation of his "theory of evolution".