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Sharp decides to quit the PC market

By Emil Protalinski

On October 22, 2010, 4:05 PM

sha
After concluding that turning a profit from stand-alone products was too difficult, Sharp has announced that it will no longer sell and manufacturer PCs, neither laptops nor desktops, according to Nikkei. The company did not say when it would cease all PC production, but it did stress that it would do so very shortly. Surprisingly, Sharp says that this is just a "strategic" move and that it may one day return to the PC market. Sharp's PCs did get a positive reception from consumers, but the company still decided to give up on selling PCs in Japan.

Instead, the company will concentrate on its newly developed e-book technology and accompanying content (e-books, music, and videos); its Galapagos Tablet is scheduled to hit Japanese stores this December. Sharp will also continue to provide ultra compact devices, including its Netwalker series.

Sharp made its mark in the PC industry by using proprietary technologies for LCDs and chips. In the 1990s, it developed the world's smallest and lightest notebook PC equipped with both an internal hard drive and a floppy disk drive. Last year, the Japanese consumer electronics company offered a notebook PC that let users draw images by hand, but it has not released any new products since. Customers will continue to receive support services for their purchased products, according to the company.


15 comments

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  1. October 22, 2010 4:14 PM
    TomSEA
    TomSEA, TechSpot Chancellor, said:

    Heh...I haven't seen a Sharp PC in years. I had no idea they were still in the business.

    Reply
  2. October 22, 2010 4:20 PM
    matrix86
    matrix86 said:

    TomSEA said:

    Heh...I haven't seen a Sharp PC in years. I had no idea they were still in the business.

    That puts you ahead of me...I didn't even know they made PCs, lol.

    Reply
  3. October 22, 2010 5:01 PM
    Tekkaraiden
    Tekkaraiden said:

    Haven't seen a Sharp computer since the mid 90's.

    Reply
  4. October 22, 2010 5:13 PM
    Route44
    Route44, TechSpot Ambassador, said:

    That puts you ahead of me...I didn't even know they made PCs, lol.

    Neither did I. Perhaps they sold them in other areas of the world but I've never seen one in the U.S. Did they use a different brand name?

    Reply
  5. October 22, 2010 5:50 PM
    captaincranky
    captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

    Sharp decides to quit the PC market
    If their PCs are as reliable as the rest of their product line, this stands as an act of mercy.

    Reply
  6. October 22, 2010 7:07 PM
    Route44
    Route44, TechSpot Ambassador, said:

    If their PCs are as reliable as the rest of their product line, this stands as an act of mercy.

    LOL! Captain you had me rolling!

    Reply
  7. October 22, 2010 8:15 PM
    Wendig0
    Wendig0, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    I thought they turned the life support off for Sharp computers back in 2000? I haven't seen one since around that time anyway...

    Reply
  8. October 24, 2010 12:13 AM
    PaulWuzHere
    PaulWuzHere said:

    Sharp made computers?

    Reply
  9. October 25, 2010 7:50 AM
    Benny26
    Benny26, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    I've never even seen a Sharp PC...Oh wait a sec, neither has anyone else lol...

    If any one finds one, take it to auction, it would be worth a fortune that...lol

    Reply
  10. October 25, 2010 7:54 AM
    grimm808 said:

    Wait... what? Sharp makes PC's? I didn't even know that. I just thought they made TV's, fans, and useless peripherals. They should just focus on making nice HD tv's.

    Reply
  11. October 25, 2010 9:50 AM
    jizzyburnizzy said:

    I've never seen a Sharp PC either, no big loss here. I can honestly say I've never bought any product made by Sharp and I likely never will

    Reply
  12. October 25, 2010 10:53 AM
    nismo91 said:

    same here. never seen a sharp PCs. i got their fridge though.

    Reply
  13. October 25, 2010 11:20 AM
    captaincranky
    captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

    same here. never seen a sharp PCs. i got their fridge though.
    Good luck with that...!

    Reply
  14. October 25, 2010 1:51 PM
    Benny26
    Benny26, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    Good luck with that...!

    lol

    I did have some Sharp speakers once that performed very well.

    Well i say well, they blew up after a few weeks but thats better than i expected....

    Reply
  15. October 27, 2010 10:46 PM
    ruzveh said:

    Good decision by sharp as i dont have any single component in my PC which is made by sharp incl monitor. Rather now they can concentrate on more discreet market and improve the service of their TV's

    Reply

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