Marking its entry into the global consumer sector, Lenovo yesterday launched the IdeaPad notebook and IdeaCentre desktop PC series.
While this Idea brand is a concerted effort on Lenovo’s part to tackle the consumer market, it is not being launched worldwide right now.
The Idea products are currently unavailable in the UK and Ireland but will be for sale in the US, France, Russia, South Africa, India, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, the Philippines and Singapore.
The IdeaPad laptop is available in three models in the US, the Y510, Y710 and U110, and incorporates cutting edge consumer technology including touch-sensitive control surfaces, facial recognition and antibacterial keyboards.
Giving Apple’s design department a run for its money, the U110 laptop has a frameless screen that is ultra-thin and widescreen with a glossy red exterior.
“Our ThinkPad notebooks are well known around the world as the best engineered computers for business, for quality, reliability and thoughtful design,” said Liu Jun, senior vice president and president, consumer business group, Lenovo.
“We’re now bringing Lenovo’s expertise in design and engineering to consumers with our Idea branded PCs.
“We are confident we will grow our consumer business by blending innovative technologies like facial recognition with stylish designs to enhance the way people use technology in their personal lives,” he added.
The shift in focus to target the consumer market as well as the current business market with its ThinkPad range may be a smart move for Lenovo as the market intelligence firm IDC predicts the global consumer PC market is expected to grow on average by almost 10pc year on year until 2011.
Currently the consumer market counts for 40pc of all PCs sold worldwide.
By Marie Boran
