Chinese PC giant Lenovo is planning to enter the consumer market in Australia later this year with a “sexy” new range of products, however company executives admit that they will only do it if they see “long term benefits”.Speaking at yesterday’s launch of their sleek new Think Pad X1 company executives said that they have an “excellent” range of consumer products including all in one PCs, notebooks, tablets and TV attach boxes that transform a TV into a home theatre system.
In the USA. Lenovo has an exclusive relationship with Best Buy, while in Japan, the company has an exclusive consumer PC relationship with NEC.
In Australia several PC vendors have said that they “fear” Lenovo coming into the consumer market with the general manager of one mainstream PC manufacturer saying “Lenovo have the products and the management team to be highly competitive in the consumer market, they will be a real threat”.
According to Chris Kelly, director of SMB and consumer business, Lenovo is planning to move into the consumer market with a “sexy” range of products.
“We have a great range of products for the consumer market but we have to be absolutely sure that we have a sustainable business plan going forward,” he said.
Lenovo, who is the world’s fastest growing PC company and the world’s largest seller of commercial notebooks, was the first company to reveal a tablet docked with a keyboard. Called the IdeaPad U1 the Hybrid notebook was first revealed at the 2010 CES show in Las Vegas. The concept is now being copied by Samsung and several other PC companies.
The Chinese company also has an extensive range of all in One PCs including models for business as well as the consumer market. Yesterday the company announced the ThinkPad X1 laptop, a 13 inch business laptop that also boasts consumer multimedia and entertainment features.
The device could easily sit alongside the MacBook Air and the new Samsung 9000 notebook both of which are being sold by mass retailers.
Kelly said: “When we do come into the consumer market we want to plan out for 12, 24 and 36 months. We have a massive opportunity and we intend to do it right”.
