Galapagos Syndrome

"Galapagos." The island that gave rise to the theory of evolution has become a pejorative here in Japan. First applied to domestic mobile phone makers who can't figure out a way to compete anywhere outside the controlled confines of their home country's marketplace, it's since been applied to everything from the anime industry to the growing insularity of young Japanese. It's basically a way of describing the nation of Japan as becoming shyer, less adventurous, and all-around more isolated and introverted. 

That's why Japanese electronics maker Sharp turned heads when it revealed the name of its new line of tablet computers last September: "Galapagos." Much head-scratching followed, then shrugging -- with "innovations" like track balls (!), these tablets aren't going to be knocking the iPad or even Kindle off their pedestals anytime soon -- but today, finally, the Mainichi Shimbun ran an article about the story behind the name.

The brainchild of thirty-year Sharp veteran Keiko Okada, she was fully aware of the connotations of the word. "This company's become too corporate, and I wanted to drop a bomb in their laps," she told the newspaper in an interview published this morning. Mission accomplished.

But here's the real question: how do CONSUMERS feel about it? It's been three months since the first announcement. Let's turn to the peanut gallery at 2ch to find out how the "man on the net" feels. (And with the usual 2ch dose of misogyny, there isn't any doubt that most of these posters are men):

Epic fail.

Masochism pure and simple.

When I heard that lame name I knew a woman had to be behind it.

The most weasel-y product name, ever.

Make something better than Galaxy Pad or iPad and try again.

The really ironic thing is that none of the products in the line have anything that really differentiates them from competitors.

Women.

Well, at least we're talking about it.

I like the name. It's way more daring than the usual Japanese product name. As for the product itself, I'll pass.

I actually tried one when I went to buy a mouse pad the other day. The page-turn speed and touchscreen response were a joke. This never should've left the lab.

Last weekend, the Galapagos display area set up next to the escalators at Bic Camera was totally empty of customers. Then again, the Sony Reader area was a graveyard, too.

Comments

[Leonardo Boiko]

While I enjoy 2ch comment anthologies as much as anyone, I don’t think it’s fair to take them as a sample of the average man of the net. You’re more or less guaranteed to find the extreme of aggressiveness on 2ch, regardless of subject.

[Iamnotatwit]

Heh, the Galapagos tablet and phone pretty drool worthy.

To use 2ch as an indicator of the average man's thoughts on the net sounds like what a person said about the Tokyo's governor's incendiary comments: "Ishihara says things many people feel, but wouldn't dare to say."
http://kotaku.com/5707875/is-this-really-the-man-you-want-to-clean-up-manga-and-video-games

[Leonardo Boiko]

I wonder. That line is used by right-wingers everywhere, but I wonder how “many” are the people who wouldn’t dare to say—are they really majority? My gut feeling is that 2ch opinion is more extreme than general public opinion even taking into account the afraid-to-speak factor. But who knows, I’m basing my opinion on nothing and thin air.

[MattAlt]

2ch's certainly more extreme -- but I think that's somewhat balanced by the fact that they probably align pretty closely with the "tech-y" market segment Sharp's aiming for in the first place.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the display at Yodobashi the other day -- given the connotations it's like naming one's product the "WESUCK" or something. It'd be one thing if this was some scrappy garage start-up, but coming from a major Japanese manufacturer it just sounds tone-deaf and clueless.

[The CronoLink]

If it succeeds though, consider it the "Wii effect": putting forward names with potentially damaging repercussions way before the products come out in order to ameliorate its pernicious effects.

[M-Bone]

This works in the same way as the famous Volvo ad
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/kae070902/20090110/1231599408

The general rule with all marketing decisions is that if you are talking about it, it worked.