Lenovo unveils 12 new products, sees double-digit market share

Personal computers (PC) major Lenovo Wednesday launched a dozen brand new products in the netbook, notebook, all-in-one and desktop categories for Indian consumers. “Our 12 new products across categories are based on the changing perspective of consumers, especially youth, about PCs being lifestyle enablers than mere computing devices,” Lenovo India Managing Director Amar Babu told reporters at a preview of the product range. The Chinese IT group, which acquired the IBM’s personal computing division in 2005 for $1.25 billion, had grown its business in India by about 100 percent in fiscal 2009 after a major slump in 2008 due to global meltdown and lower IT spending in the enterprise and consumer segments. “Our strategy for the Indian market is gaining momentum. The new product range will consolidate our presence in a competitive market and expand our reach across retail, home and small and medium (SMB) business,” Babu said. According to global market intelligence provider IDC (International Data Corporation), Lenovo’s market share in India grew by 2.5 percent to 7.2 percent in 2009-10 from 4.7 percent in the recession-hit 2008-09. “In the first quarter of 2010, our market share in India shot up to 8.9 percent and are hoping to register a double-digit growth in the next two years,” Babu said. In the Z series notebooks, Lenovo’s IdeaPad offers mainstream performance and multimedia features at affordable price. “We believe in adding value to our consumers PC by incorporating unique features that are not seen in the same product category. The new product range will raise the bar with value proposition to our customers,” Lenovo India Vice-President Alex Li said. Lenovo’s notebooks and netbooks are ergonomically designed with chic let keyboard, crystal clear high definition resolution display Dolby headphone technology, JBL speakers and new generation high-resolution camera. Though the Indian subsidiary has a production facility at Puducherry to assemble PCs and notebooks, the new products will be shipped from its Shanghai plant till sustainable volumes are built to manufacture them in large numbers. The netbooks, priced Rs.18,000-20,000 and notebooks Rs.32,000-40,000, will be marketed in the company’s 120 retail stores, 300 multi stores and six partners across the country.