July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Perhaps because the marriage between the ThinkPad and BlackBerry seems so natural, another Lenovo executive is hinting that the company would be open to purchasing the beleaguered smartphone company.

Lenovo chief executive Yang Yuanqing told the French financial paper Les Echos that a BlackBerry deal “could possibly make sense, but first I need to analyze the market and understand what exactly the importance of this company is,” as reported and translated by Bloomberg.

The statement comes after Lenovo chief financial officer Wong Wai Ming told Bloomberg in January that the company was looking at a variety of opportunities to expand its mobile presence, including BlackBerry. At the time, BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins seemed baffled by Ming’s statement.

BlackBerry’s stock price jumped 14 percent this afternoon following the Lenovo chatter, closing at $14.90.

BlackBerry is betting the entire company on the success of its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones, but my review of the company’s flagship Z10 phone didn’t bode well for BlackBerry’s future. Heins hasn’t ruled out selling the company, but he’s also discussed other options, like potentially licensing BlackBerry’s software to others.

A BlackBerry purchase would make little sense for most, but given that Lenovo currently holds the popular ThinkPad business PC brand, it could potentially capitalize on having two enterprise-friendly businesses. Lenovo has released Android smartphones of its own, but it has mostly catered to China and other Asian countries. Buying BlackBerry would give Lenovo the ticket to potentially make a huge splash in the global smartphone market (assuming it can fix the many problems BlackBerry is currently facing).

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

When Lenovo bought IBM’s ThinkPad business in 2005, it inherited one of the most recognizable laptop brands of all time. Now, the Chinese electronics giant could do the same with the BlackBerry.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Lenovo chief financial officer Wong Wai Ming said that his company was exploring a variety of acquisition targets, including RIM.

“We’ll have no hesitation if the right opportunity comes along that could benefit us and shareholders,” he said, as reported by Bloomberg.

The news comes days after RIM CEO Thorsten Heins reiterated that his company was looking at a number of “strategic options,” including selling its BlackBerry hardware unit.

A Lenovo-RIM deal would be an interesting, if slightly uncomfortable, marriage between two companies that have so far had middling success in the post-iPhone world: RIM’s struggles are well documented, and Lenovo has tried is hands at smartphones multiple times, just not in North America.

Where the deal could work well is in the enterprise, where both the ThinkPad and BlackBerry brands have been successful. But the enterprise factor also breeds its own share of problems. Considering how U.S. lawmakers have greeted the rise of Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei, it’s not a stretch to assume that a Lenovo acquisition of the security-focused RIM wouldn’t be received well — even if RIM is Canadian.

The better strategy for both RIM and Lenovo is a bit more simple: Rather than buy RIM outright, Lenovo could simply licence BlackBerry 10 with its own hardware (which RIM has also said is an option). Not only will this keep lawmakers (relatively) quiet, but it could also be the key to Lenovo getting a foothold in the North American market. Oh, and it could also save RIM’s butt, too.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Microsoft’s Surface tablet has been a contentious subject for many PC makers, but don’t count Lenovo as one of them.

“Surface is a tablet, but it’s purely a tablet. Our products are very distinguishable, so I don’t see that there’s any conflict there at all,” Lenovo product president Peter Hortensius told VentureBeat during the launch of Lenovo’s newest convertible Ultrabooks.

“Customers will gravitate to whichever devices they think make the most sense for them,” he said.

Whether consumers will flock to the Surface over Lenovo’s convertibles remains to be seen, but we’ll find out soon enough: The Surface, IdeaPad Yoga 13, and ThinkPad Twist all launch on October 26.

How does Lenovo plan to set its devices apart? By focusing on their biggest feature — flexibility.

All of Lenovo’s new devices can transition from “lean-back” tablets to “lean forward” laptops in a matter of seconds. Why’s that a big deal?  Hortensius points to typing.

“When people use tablets, they inevitably have to type something. And they end up typing on glass, and it’s not the best experience,” he said. That’s where the keyboards on devices like the Yoga and Twist step in.

Besides Surface, the other big question for Lenovo nowadays is what factors are going to help it top HP in the consumer PC market. It seems inevitable, but will devices like the IdeaPad Yoga finally do the trick?

“We think it’s the breadth of the portfolio that’s really going to do it. The market is so big that it’s hard to see one product pushing us over,” Hortensius said.

“From my perspective, if we keep making good products that solve real problems, the marketshare part will take care of itself,” he added.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

In case it wasn’t already obvious, convertible tablets are the new black this year.

Lenovo knows it, which is why the company is preparing four devices that can twist, flip, and bend between being ultrabooks and tablets. But just as significant is that all these devices launch with Windows 8, which means that they will be the some of the first to show off what Microsoft’s new operating system is capable of.

IdeaPad Yoga

Announced at CES earlier this year, the IdeaPad Yoga is one of the first devices to experiment with the concept of the convertible Windows 8 tablet. The device’s hinged design allows it to rotate 360 degrees, which means that you can switch things around depending on what you need to get done. Weighing in 3.40 pounds. the device will hit stores on Oct. 26 — the same day that Windows 8 launches — for $1,099.

Alongside the 13-inch Yoga, Lenovo also announced the IdeaPad Yoga 11, a smaller, more portable 11-inch version of the Yoga 13. Running Windows RT, the Yoga 11 comes with Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor. It will be available in December.

Of Note: The Yoga 13′s HD+ (1,600 x 900)  display has the highest resolution of Lenovo’s new convertibles.

ThinkPad Twist

As its name suggests, the Lenovo Twist is the most business-focused of these new convertibles. Lenovo says that the key thing is that the device is both powerful and easy to carry around. The Twist comes with a the option of either a 500GB HDD or a more speedy 128GB solid state drive. Running for $849, the device hits stores Oct. 26.

Of Note: At 3.48 pounds, the Twist is the heaviest of Lenovo’s new convertibles — which isn’t saying much.

IdeaPad Lynx

Equipped with an 11-inch screen, the Lynx is a 1.41-pound tablet that comes with a dual-core Atom processor and 16-hour battery life. The device hits stores in December.

Of Note: Unlike with the Twist and Yoga, the keyboard on the Lynx is sold separately, which makes this device more tablet than ultrabook. While that shouldn’t be the biggest deal, the problem is that the whole the tablet starts at $599, the keyboard (which Lenovo calls “optional”) will cost you an extra $149. Suffice it to say that most Lynx owners will be using the device sans keyboard.

HP’s days as the world’s largest PC maker may be numbered.

Lenovo’s share of the PC market has been in a non-stop climb over the past few years, and its latest quarter has pushed it closer to the No. 1 spot.

This jump had some welcome effects on Lenovo’s bottom line: The company reported that profits jumped 30 percent to $141.1 million during the first quarter, slightly edging analyst estimates.

Much of this success came from a 24 percent jump in PC shipments. This is big because it shows that Lenovo’s PC sales are growing even as the larger PC market goes through a slump.

Lenovo’s first quarter revenue climbed 24 percent to $8.01 billion, nearly half of which came from China alone. As Lenovo’s biggest market and home turf, China is a key area for Lenovo, and for good reason: Lenovo wants to grow, and there’s no better way to do that than by targeting a country with a tiny PC penetration rate.

Elsewhere, Lenovo’s sales were similarly rosy: Sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa rose to $1.58 billion, and sales in the U.S. climbed 6.8 precent to $1.18 billion

And Lenovo’s success may have made it a bit cocky. When asked whether Lenovo was concerned by Microsoft’s jump into the PC hardware space, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said the software giant was no different from the likes of HP.

“We are still confident that we are providing much better hardware than our competitors, including Microsoft,” Yang said.

The ThinkPad is going back home.

Lenovo is shifting some of the venerable laptop’s production back to Japan, where the ThinkPad was manufactured up until the 2000s, Japan’s Asihi Shimbun reports

The shift is the latest result of the partnership Lenovo formed with Japanese IT company NEC. Meant to boost Lenovo’s sales in Japan, the alliance combined NEC’s 20 percent consumer PC market share with Lenovo’s comparably weak five percent share in the country.

At the time of the announcement, Lenovo was the world’s fourth largest PC vendor. Now it’s the world’s second largest, trailing only HP.

But that success hasn’t come from growth in Japan, however. Japan’s PC market has been notoriously hard to crack for non-Japanese companies, a difficulty due in no small part the average Japanese consumer’s preference for Japanese-manufactured goods. By shifting ThinkPad production to Japan, Lenovo is clearly aiming to win over the hearts and minds of these sorts of nationalistic Japanese consumers.

In the ThinkPad’s case, this is something that Lenovo likely won’t have too much trouble with. Not only was the ThinkPad manufactured in Japan, the country is also responsible for its design. The laptop’s original designers used Japan’s traditional bento lunch boxes as inspiration for the ThinkPad’s now-infamous look and feel.

It’s also worth noting that the ThinkPad  itself has become an increasingly multinational brand: Developed by the American IBM alongside Japanese researchers, the laptop line is now manufactured by a Chinese multinational company in tandem with a Japanese one. It’s a citizen of the world.

Lenovo wants to cut out the mobile broadband middleman in the best way it can: By launching its own broadband service.

The service, called Lenovo Mobile Access (LMA), will offer owners of certain ThinkPad Classic and ThinkPad Edge models the ability to connect to the Internet directly from their devices.

The contract-free service will run for $2 for thirty minutes, and $9 for an entire day. Lenovo is also offering monthly plans, which run for $45 for 2GB of data and $80 for 6GB.

Available July 1st, the service will be initially available in the U.S, UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The move is a major boon for Lenovo’s enterprise-heavy user base, which will no doubt appreciate the flexibility and lack of a binding contract. Meant for more short-term use, Lenovo aims for Lenovo Mobile Access to supplement existing broadband plans, not replace them. In all, the service will be a significant value-added feature for Lenovo’s devices.

LMA is powered by Macheen Inc., an Austin, Texas-based company that’s built the service to scale.

Lenovo, for its part, isn’t new to mobile broadband, having offered similar deals in devices like the IdeaPad S205s for some time now. But Lenovo Mobile Access is a new sort of beast — with it Lenovo is moving away from the contract-based models of mobile providers towards something smaller and more flexible.

Everyone seems to be getting into the mobile broadband space nowadays. Last month, Bright House, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner announced CableWiFi, a shared WiFi network offered to all of the company’s customers.

Lenovo seems to have its work cut out for it at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show.

The Chinese computer maker, after already announcing its new low-end ThinkPad models, revealed a slew of new machines today, including a new ThinkPad ultrabook, updated ThinkPad Edge models, and an intriguing hybrid laptop that packs in two separate processors and operating systems.

While it’s nice to see a completely revamped lineup of products from Lenovo, having so many models to choose from may ultimately work against the company. Lenovo, as well as other PC makers, may want to take a queue from Apple in the coming years by reducing their available models and avoiding overly niche machines (which I fear Lenovo’s hybrid X1 laptop will end up being).

First up is Lenovo’s ThinkPad T430u ultrabook (the new buzzword for thin and light laptops that resemble Apple’s MacBook Air). At $849, the ultrabook is among the cheapest in its category, though we expect it won’t be the only one in 2012. The T430u is .8-inches thin, will weigh under 4 pounds, and you’ll have the choice of integrated Intel graphics or more powerful Nvidia graphics.

Lenovo is holding out for Intel’s upcoming third-generation Core processors, dubbed Ivy Bridge, so the T430u won’t be available until the third quarter of 2012.

The company also announced several new ThinkPad Edge models, its more stylish lineup of laptops. The $749 S430 features the same .8-inch thickness as Lenovo’s ultrabook, and it will also be one of the first PC laptops we’ve seen to include an ultra-fast Thunderbolt port. Lenovo is also planning to include Ivy Bridge chips in the S430 as well, so you won’t be seeing it until June.

Other ThinkPad Edge models include the 14-inch E430 and 15-inch E530, which will start at $549 and be available in April. The company also has a B series of budget laptops starting a $399 on the horizon, but there aren’t many additional details available yet on those.

Finally, there’s the ThinkPad Hybrid X1, which sports both an Intel Core i5/i7 CPU and a 1.2 gigahertz Qualcomm chip, commonly found in tablets and smartphones. The Qualcomm chip, which is also paired with one gigabyte of RAM and 16GB, powers Lenovo’s Linux-based “Instant Media Mode.”

Strangely, you’ll have to boot into Windows first before accessing the Linux mode, which is a bit counterintuitive, since it seems primed to be something you boot into almost instantly. Other laptop makers offer similar modes that don’t require booting into Windows. Without an instant boot option, it’s unclear how useful the Instant Media Mode is to consumers. The X1 will start at $1,599 and will be available in the second quarter of the year.

These machines reflect the attempt by computer makers to create machines that crossover between business and consumer uses. Lenovo wants you to use its machines all of the time. Lenovo is striving to get away from boring designs, but I wouldn’t say that this design stands apart from the pack. Compare it, for instance, to Apple’s lust-inducing MacBook Air.

The new line-up includes the ThinkPad Edge E220s and E420s laptops, which are thin, curvy machines that cater to business professionals who don’t want to carry a boring laptop.

They feature Lenovo’s “infinity screen” displays, a matte black finish that is soft to the touch, and “metal accents,” or strips of metal along the sides of the machine.

The machines also feature the latest Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors. They also have Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience 2.0 for fast booting and a range of wireless connectivity options. And they feature Dolby Home Theater audio (for serious play, as opposed to serious business) and high-definition video conferencing. Lenovo says the Enhanced Experience 2.0 lets you boot your machine 30 percent faster than normal.

The E220s has a 12.5-inch screen while the E420s has a 14-inch screen. The E220s is less than an inch thick and weighs 3.5 pounds. The E420s is an inch thick and weighs four pounds. The keyboard is spill-resistant, and the E420s has a slot-loading DVD player/burner. The E420s will sell for $749 and the E220s will sell for $899. Both will be available in April, and a stripped-down E520 model will be available in April for $599.

Apple hasn’t found much success in China with its iPhone, primarily because local laws prohibit China Unicom — the only carrier that legally offers the smartphone — from selling it with WiFi enabled. Chinese consumers have opted instead for cheaper grey-market iPhones that aren’t restricted. It doesn’t help that Apple has few official retail outlets in China, including a small number of Apple stores and resellers.

While other companies like Dell and HP are pouring more resources into China, Apple isn’t following suit. “Steve Jobs is a genius. He is the exception to my rule,” Liu said. “My theory is that a manager needs to be the string on which he puts one pearl after another. But Jobs himself is a big pearl.”

Lenovo is the leading computer manufacturer in China with 33.5 percent of market share, and now has 9 percent of the market globally. In an attempt to broaden its business outside of China, the company purchased IBM’s PC division in 2005, and acquired the Thinkpad brand in the process. But that plan didn’t go as well as it had hoped. In 2006, Lenovo held third place in the U.S. with 7 percent of the market — behind Dell and HP. Today, it doesn’t even rank among the top five computer companies in the U.S. In the third quarter of last year, Lenovo held only 4 percent of the U.S. market, according to a Gartner analyst.

At this point, Lenovo’s business is more focused on China than ever. When it acquired IBM PC, its business in China accounted for 37 percent of overall sales. Today, that number is closer to 47 percent. The company is planning its own Android-powered smartphone to take on the iPhone in China, the Lenovo LePhone. It’s betting on the fact that it knows China and can deliver a phone more targeted at Chinese consumers.

But Apple may not be ignoring the country for long. The company told the Financial Times that it plans to open a new Apple store in Shanghai this week and is slated to have 25 stores throughout China by the end of the year. China Unicom is in discussions to bring the iPhone 4 (hopefully unrestricted this time) and iPad to China as well — hopefully at a price point that can compete directly with grey-market sellers.