With an Italian-sounding name, a line of computers once made by I.B.M., and a chief executive who hails from Dell and NCR, the Lenovo Group is not a company that most Americans would assume is Chinese.

Lenovo, which happens to be the only Chinese company having a worldwide sponsorship for the 2008 Beijing Olympics does not mind that at all. Indeed, it welcomes it.

Lenovo, which bought I.B.M.’s personal computer business in 2005, plans to use its Olympics campaign as a launching pad for its brand.

Although Lenovo’s largest shareholder is the Chinese government and its biggest operations are in Beijing, Americans who watch advertisements during the Olympics this August will see only a company that wants to show off its technology.

Glen Gilbert, Lenovo’s vice president for brand management, said, ‘In China, the advertising will be very much leveraging the heritage of a Chinese company. In the U.S., we won’t be making direct mention of that.’

He said Lenovo is not trying to hide its Chinese roots. Rather, it wants to position Lenovo as a global brand and highlight the quality of its computers.
A lot more on this by clicking HERE.
Source: New York Times

Lenovo says its net income doubled in its latest quarter despite the economic slowdown in the United States.

Helped by strong sales in its home market, Lenovo’s profit in its fourth financial quarter ended March 31 jumped to $140 million from $60.3 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 14% to $3.73 billion.

Global shipments by Lenovo were up 21%, compared with a rate for the industry of just 15%.

However, executives warned that the weak US economy poses future challenges for the PC industry, and said they plan to streamline Lenovo’s supply chain in the coming year.

In a statement filed with Hong Kong securities regulators the company said, ‘The increased adoption of notebook computers worldwide continues to be the primary driving force behind the growth of the worldwide PC market. Lenovo is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend.’

Notebook computers made up 58% of Lenovo’s total sales.

The company is hoping to grow via its new IdeaPad lines. However critics say the IdeaPads are priced above models from rivals like Acer, and it will need to its broaden offerings and cut prices.

(The writer has just bought a new notebook. Although the Lenovo was tempting the final purchase was a Dell purely on economic grounds with the models compared feature for feature.)

The computer maker said the greater China market accounted for 37% of sales, followed by the Americas with 28%, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa with 22%.
Source: MarketWatch

Global retail prices for laptop computers are set to rise as contract manufacturers seek to raise prices in the face of rising raw material and assembly costs.

PC users worldwide have become used to falling prices throughout the past decade however, the so-called ‘China effect’ on global manufactured goods prices is ending.

The Financial Times reports that Quanta, Compal and Wistron, the world’s three largest notebook contract manufacturers by output, are in talks with their customers – Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer – on how to share the burden of rocketing prices for key materials. Labour costs in China, where the manufacturers have their main production bases, are also rising.

Ray Chen, chief executive of Compal, said, ‘We will be raising prices for the first time.’ His company expects to account for 25% of the global market this year.

Ray Chen said, ‘In the past, we, the contract manufacturers, were always forced to absorb upward price pressures. But the prices for key materials such as copper and plastic resin and the cost of labor in China have been rising so much that it doesn’t make sense for us to continue lowering prices.’

Quanta, Compal, Wistron and smaller competitors design and assemble most notebook computers, which the top PC companies sell under their own brands.

While contract manufacturers have seen their profits squeezed in recent years, they have been unable to get price rises accepted by the the branded vendors.

However, it is reported several of the branded PC companies have agreed to share part of the burden, recognizing that the entire supply chain is clamoring for price rises.
Source: FinFacts Ireland

Dell produces excellent machines at the right price. This writer gets no special discount but the majority of the computers he uses as Dell. They are well built, expensive and easy to expand.

Michael Dell believed the way to sell these computer was direct to the customer making the machine to the customer’s exact specification. The world has moved on and a computer is a computer is a computer and if I want one I want it now.

So Dell, facing reality, is now selling though retailers and will expand its presence in China by selling desktop and notebook computers at Suning, the country’s second-largest electronics chain, and doubling the number of Gome stores that carry Dell machines.

Those moves, plus selling PCs through several smaller retailers in China, will put Dell products on the shelves of more than 12,000 stores worldwide. Which is a very good idea.

Dell is trying to regain the lead in worldwide PC shipments by branching out from its phone and Internet sales and going into retail stores. And the strategy may be paying off. Works for me.

Two technology research firms, IDC and Gartner have reported Dell still trails Hewlett-Packard Co. in worldwide shipments but gained ground in the first quarter.

In China, Dell is also competing with domestic market leader Lenovo Group which also makes a very solid machine but is wondering whether the $100,000 million spent on sponsoring the Olympics. My guess is that it will all turn out fine in the end — criticism of China over the Olympics seems to be declining somewhat — but it was a damn close run thing.

Dell started selling machines at Gome, China’s largest electronics chain, last year. Michael Tatelman, general manager of Dell’s global consumer business, declined to give sales numbers but said the arrangement is working well enough to double it to 900 Gome stores this month.

Dell believes that young Chinese consumers buying their first computer will prefer the superstore format of larger Gome and Suning locations to the country’s hectic PC malls.

Seems an iffy propostion and is that sort of thing told a sales manager by his wife and then all the sales staff shuffle their feet to get into line to approve. May apply to middle aged users. Doubt it works with young consumers. They know more than we do.
Source: AP

China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID) Consulting, a market research company under the Ministry of Information Industry, has released a report which shows that sales of personal computers in China grew steadily in 2007, driven by a price war.

Last year, 27.94 million desktop PCs, laptops and servers were sold nationwide, up 19.5% over the previous year. Owing to price cuts, sales value, which stood at RMB147.2 billion (about $20.59 billion), rose by 12.8%.

CCID Consulting Chief Executive Officer Li Jun said, ‘Since price-cutting has spread from desktop PCs to laptops, enterprises failed to make more profits.’

He said some major brands sold for RMB4,000 per unit and the average price for laptops fell from RMB8,000 to RMB7,000 in 2007.

Li Jun said large price reductions caused many buyers to favor laptops to desktop PCs, particularly in cities and on campus. He also predicted demand from smaller enterprises, families and rural areas would continue to drive China’s PC market over the next few years.

According to CCID Consulting, the market will reach RMB170.4 billion in 2008 and RMB263.87 billion in 2012.
Source: China View

Lenovo is finally moving into the consumer market. Two new consumer notebooks ­ dubbed “IdeaPads” ­ will soon go on sale followed by a third model, an ultra-portable, which will have a worldwide release in April.

All feature facial recognition software for automatic password-free log-ins, Dolby Home Theater surround-sound, textured colour casings, and even ­ for the cleanliness-inclined ­ anti-bacterial, spill-resistant keyboards.

To demonstrate the new robustmers at a press conference all received some hearty treatment, including being swung upside down, casings given a mighty thump or two, and keyboards pulled apart. Needless to say, the Lenovos survived.

The first two models are the 15.4-inch widescreen IdeaPad Y510 at something under $1,500 and and the whizz-bang 17-inch widescreen high-performance IdeaPad Y710 for games enthusiasts and entertainment fans at something under $2,500.

The ultra-portable U110, which weighs just over 1kg and has a new 11-in. display, along with a bright red textured casing should be generally released by April although no word yet on the pricing.

All three notebooks feature the “Veriface” facial-recognition security system. The user takes a facial snapshot with a built-in camera. After that, whenever the notebook is turned on, the camera will check who is operating it and compare it to the stored image. If the face does not match, the notebook will not grant access.

Already rated the world’s No 4 PC brand, behind HP, Dell and Acer, Lenovo is looking to the consumer range to propel it into the top three.
Source: Computer Daily News

Lenovo, Asia’s biggest personal-computer seller, tripled profit, beating estimates.

Net income rose to $171.7 million, or 1.76 cents per share, in the third quarter ended December 31, from $57.7 million, or 0.64 cent, a year earlier.

Lenovo increased its distribution networks in India and eastern Europe and sold more notebooks in China, expanding in emerging markets to narrow the gap with Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

On the other hand Lenovo will is getting out of mobile phones. It is selling its handset unit for $100 million after shipments slumped 31%, while PCs climbed 22%.

Lenovo’s gross profit margin, or the percentage of sales left after deducting production costs, widened to 15.2% in the three months to December, from 15.1% in the previous quarter. The company benefited from lower component costs and the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the renminbi.

Lenovo said this month it started selling IdeaPad notebooks in 14 markets including the U.S., France, Russia and Australia, after previously offering products to consumers only in China and other countries in southeast Asia.
Source: Bloomberg

So far Lenovo seem to have consistently go it right and now it is going a step beyond its business-user focus to hurl itself at personal computer with six new PCs.

This may be poor timing.

For the first time, in Japan computers are being outsold by other devices. Awful to relate but personal PCs are not as important as they once were. Not dead, not sick, not even a slight fever. But not the most robust of growing health.

By buying IBM’s personal computer business three years ago, Lenovo vaulted from the No. 8 position among PC makers to become the world’s third biggest.

Everyone is snapping at its heels so it is taking two major, major step to stay up there with the biggies. First it is sponsoring the Olympic Games which will give it a lot of exposure. Now it has announced that it’s expanding from its focus on business users to target the consumer market on a global basis.

Three laptops and three desktop models will be launched in multiple countries including the U.S., China, France, Russia, India, Australia, and Indonesia. Until now the company was best known for its ThinkPad business laptops. This is about to change.

Deepak Advani, the company’s chief marketing officer said, ‘This move is very important in the long run for us to meet our global aspirations. The ThinkPad is the gold standard in business notebooks, and it does help build the global brand, but with the consumer strategy we can turbocharge it.’

In the third quarter of 2007, Lenovo’s share of global PC shipments came to 8.2%, edging Acer’s 8.1% market share.

Acer competes heavily on price, Lenovo tries to position itself as the quality bran. Not that it makes that much difference. I just had to look to see I was using an Acer. But with a wireless Logitech keyboard.

Maybe I could lust after the IdeaPad U110 which is a 2.3-pound laptop with a bright red top and a high-sheen, 11-inch screen that runs right to the edge of the lid.

All six machines also offer facial recognition-based security: When you boot up, photographic software studies your face through a built-in camera above the screen, confirming your identity before it lets you start using the machine. With me this will be a problem. My mother used to have trouble recognizing me. Mark you, she had eight other children to remember.
Source: Business Times

At that silly price it is a better laptop. At least, that is what TulipEgo thinks. And to prove it, it studded the upper shell of their product with real diamonds anyway. Nothing exceeds like excess.

Now, manufacturers in mainland China are following the trend of luxury laptops although, thankfully, not going that far. Both Lenovo and Haier have launched their own luxury PCs — the ThinkPad Reserve Edition, which sells at RMB50,000, and the Haier Flybook V5/VM.

Quan Xiaoyan, key account manager of the ThinkPad series of Lenovo said the ThinkPad Reserve Edition, with distribution limited to 5,000, was designed in part for the 15th anniversary of ThinkPad notebooks.

Bound by French leather in traditional Japanese saddle stitching, the laptop also features a personalized name carving on its shell.

Haier’s Flybook V5 is small enough for a purse and are so expensive that sales clerks only produce the computer after a potential buyer pays a deposit, for fear of possible damages that could occur.

Fang Chunsong, general manager of mobile computing at Haier, says the move has to do with flexing technological muscle. Having long been recognized as a trustworthy electric appliance manufacturer, the company now is sparing no effort to prove its ’strong ability in research and technology development’ in the PC industry.

As for Lenovo, it says the ThinkPad Reserve Edition would be successful if it can bring a feeling of honor and pride to the user. According to the company’s vice president Xia Li, most of the laptops have been booked by its important business clients and partners around the world.

Our illustration is of the TulipEgo diamond studded notebook. It may not seem much to you but that is possibly because you are not used to the best things in life. Or, alternatively, have better taste.
Source: Economic Observer News

Dell is struggling in China. Indeed, it has slipped around the world with Hewlett-Packard taking up the slack and, Acer, if you count all its take-over brands, moving into second place. Dell has just reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit margins and warned that rising costs could depress future results, sending its shares down 10%.

On the other hand Dell has just posted unit growth for its third fiscal quarter of 26% in China, 30% in Brazil and 42% in India.

Dell’s current retail partner in China is GOME electrical and home department stores.

Dell is now starting to focus on lower-tier cities and this will include lower-priced products although there is unlikely to be a dramatic shift in Dell’s average price.

Dell is not just selling PCs through Gome in China. It has reversed its marketing policy and is now selling PCs at Wal-Mart Stores in the United States, GOME in China and has announced will also now start to sell thorugh Carrefour which is in France, Spain, Belgium and Thailand and is the world’s second-largest retailer.

What has led it to this is the slow-down in its direct sales model. This despite the fact that in many countries it is still the least expensive way of buying a good class computer.
Source: Yahoo News