After its successful strategic decision almost six years ago, of acquiring IBM’s PC business, Lenovo has emerged as the world’s 4th largest PC vendor and the largest PC vendor in China. Recent reviews show Lenovo positioning itself as the 5th largest PC vendor in India and proving themselves as a brand to stand with. In India alone, Lenovo claims to have grown 60% year on year. With the evolution of All–in-Ones, the monitor integrated with the CPU concept, and, the smartphone as well as tablet markets emerging in a phenomenal way worldwide, Lenovo’s strategic hybrid smartphone and docking station, using two different operating systems, not only is an interesting innovation but, also a perspective changing product line.
With the battle of the iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7 raging, Lenovo has interestingly combined their hybrid product with the Android OS on the tablet and Windows OS on the docking station, making a very interesting combination. In India, the Mac market has been sluggish compared to the Windows platform on PCs, notebooks, netbooks and even servers. As far as India is concerned at least, the hybrid LePad and IdeaPad, with the benefit of both worlds, the Android world and the Windows arena, seem to be a winning strategy for Lenovo.
The U1 IdeaPad has been defined to be a Windows laptop with a detachable touch screen that functions as an Android tablet, independently called the LePad. The wonderful 8 hour battery life proposed and Intel i5-540UM Intel processor in the IdeaPad base, with a 1.3 GHz Snapdragon processor in the LePad, will definitely be an experience to remember. The 10.1 inch touch screen tablet, only half an inch thick, has a front facing camera for video chat. The wireless integration supporting WCDMA and EVDO connectivity is also an interesting introduction. The display resolution of 1280 x 800 HD with a 16 or 32 GB internal memory on the LePad, is also said to be an advantage. The IdeaPad with its Intel Core 1.2 GHz processor, 2 GB memory and 320 GB hard disk with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth running a Windows 7 OS, is formidable.
This product range is expected to hit the Indian market anytime in the second quarter of 2011, after its launch in China in March 2011. Interestingly after its massive success with desktops, laptops and notebooks and netbooks, Lenovo’s foray into the tablet market, with a new business group, focused exclusively on developing the facility, for creating unique mobile devices, is innovative.
