By Michael Kan
August 10, 2011

BEIJING – Lenovo will launch a new tablet and smartphone during the third quarter in the Le series which has so far been launched only in China, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The Chinese PC maker did not however disclose whether the new products will be sold outside China. It did not also discuss the specifications of the new products.

Like its PC rivals, Lenovo is ramping up its efforts to grab a share of the booming tablet and smartphone markets. China has more than 900 million mobile phone users.

Lenovo launched Monday a new smartphone in China called the A60, which has a 3.5 inch touch screen and uses the Android 2.3 operating system. The device is being marketed as a low price handset, at 1,000 yuan (US$155) when bought as a pay-as-you-go phone. China Unicom, the phone’s carrier, will give out the handset free with a 96 yuan monthly-service plan.

Lenovo hopes it can succeed on its own home turf where it is already the top-selling PC vendor. The company wants to double its smartphone sales, and raise its tablet market share to 20 percent, CEO Yang Yuanqing said earlier this year during an earnings call. He did not specify a timeframe for achieving these targets.

But competition in the tablets and smartphone markets has been stiff. Apple’s iPad dominates China’s tablet market with a 74 percent share, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola rank as the three biggest smartphone sellers, while Lenovo has just a 4.2 percent share.

LePhone, an Android device that launched in May 2010, was the Chinese PC maker’s first smartphone since the company bought back its mobile business company from a group of private investors. The company launched at the end of March the LePad, its first tablet computer.

In English, the Chinese word Le means “happy.”

Lenovo announced three new tablets for the U.S. market last month, but these are not of the Le series. The PC maker has said it will sell the LePhone in other countries once it “wins” the market in China first.

August 5, 2011

Do you think you have what it takes to be a hero in just 10 seconds? Or do you know one? Lenovo wants to know! Starting today, Lenovo, in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation, is launching the EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest in recognition of its Enhanced Experience 2.0 (EE 2.0) for Windows 7 program, which allows select Lenovo PCs to boot up in as little as 10 seconds. The contest calls on “doers” in countries around the world to submit 150 words explaining a good deed they or an organization they know of accomplished in 10 seconds. Lenovo will award $50,000 to a charity of choice based upon the person or organization who made the most significant impact in the same amount of time it takes to boot up a Lenovo PC with Enhanced Experience 2.0.

“At Lenovo, we understand every second can have a big impact on our customers, which is why we created Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7. Our proprietary RapidBoot technology allows Lenovo PCs to boot up 20 seconds faster than any other Windows 7 PC on the market today—a small feat that makes a big difference to users every day,” said Vicky Agorrilla, Country General Manager, Lenovo Philippines. “Through the EExtraordinary contest, we are excited to uncover how others are making a difference by helping their communities in the same amount of time.”

“We are pleased to support the EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest,” said Soren Lau, GM OEM product marketing, Microsoft. “Whether it’s a business or individual, it doesn’t take more than 10 seconds to be a hero or make a difference. We believe putting time back in our customers’ day with Lenovo’s RapidBoot technology will make a difference to them as well.”

Beginning today through August 21, consumers, ages 18 years or older can visit http://lenovo.promo.eprize.com/hero to submit a 150 word description of how they, an organization or someone they know has performed a good deed in 10 seconds or less. Twenty-four finalists from around the world will be selected by a panel of experts and featured on the contest website. The public will be invited to vote for its favorite submission on the contest website in mid-September with the grand prize winner announced at the end of that month. Lenovo will donate $50,000 to the grand prize winner’s charity of choice.

The Lenovo EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest is open to residents of the United States, Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, The United Kingdom, India, Canada (excluding Quebec), Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Poland, The Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.

For official rules for the Lenovo EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest, please visit: http://lenovo.promo.eprize.com/hero.

Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 is an exclusive certification only available on Lenovo products. This unique feature allows Lenovo PCs to boot on average 20 seconds faster than a typical Windows 7 PC thanks to RapidBoot technology, which uses a range of proprietary optimization techniques to deliver even faster start-up and shutdown times1. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 PCs with optional RapidDrive SSD technology perform even faster by using a Solid State Drive in addition to, or instead of, a regular hard drive (varies by model). RapidDrive SSD technology offers two-times faster application performance2 and even faster Windows 7 performance, including boot up times in less than 10 seconds on select Idea PCs.3

Lenovo Idea-branded PCs with Enhanced Experience 2.0 are optimized for consumers for multimedia with Enhanced Digital Audio and HD graphics. Lenovo Think-branded PCs are optimized for businesses with robust security tools and rich Web conferencing features.

For more information about Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience 2.0, please visit: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/ee2/index.html.

June 23, 2011

Davao and Pampanga are vital economic engines for the country. Davao, the largest city in Mindanao, is a hub for business, tourism and investment in the south while Pampanga is known not only as a tourism center but as a manufacturing and business process outsourcing center in Central Luzon. The two newly opened concept stores will further build on Lenovo’s commitment to expand its retail presence in the country specifically outside Metro Manila, bringing the company’s total number of concept stores to 14 nationwide.

The two new Lenovo Exclusive Stores (LES) are located in Davao City, at the upscale Abreeza Mall, and SM Pampanga, near Clark Freeport Zone.

Vicky Agorrilla, Country General Manager, Lenovo Philippines said: “Nowadays, demand is fueled by the boom in the provincial areas, and we believe that PC penetration in the provinces remains largely untapped. According to the Philippine Consumer Electronics Report Q2 2011[1], future demand will be driven by growth areas outside Manila.  Our commitment is to continue to expand our retail presence nationwide to give customers a chance to see what Lenovo has to offer.”

The LES in Abreeza Mall is located on the 3rd Floor A in J.P. Laurel Avenue, Bajada, Davao City.  It is managed and operated by Silicon Valley, one of Lenovo’s trusted business partners who currently manage four other Lenovo concept stores in the country.

The LES in Pampanga is located on the 1st Floor Cyberzone Building 2 at the SM City Pampanga, City of San Fernando, Pampanga. It is managed and operated by Gigahertz Computer Systems, Lenovo’s retail partner in the Philippines.

Lenovo opened its first concept store in the Philippines in 2007 and currently has 14 concept stores located in major shopping malls nationwide.  Other Lenovo LES are located at SM Mall of Asia (Lenovo’s first in the Philippines), SM Megamall, SM Marikina, SM North, SM Cebu (its first in the Visayas region), Robinsons Ermita, SM Cubao, Festival Mall, Digital Alley Greenbelt 2, Makati, 1^st in Gilmore, Quezon City and SM Calamba.  The first Think Exclusive Store is located at the Digital Alley, Greenbelt 2.

To get the latest Lenovo news and product updates, follow Lenovo Philippines on Twitter (www.twitter.com/lenovophils) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/lenovophilippines).

June 09, 2011

Lenovo recently launched its latest line-up of Think and Idea laptop and desktop personal computers (PCs) running on the 2^nd Generation Intel Core processors.   These PCs are all equipped with Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 (EE 2.0) for Windows 7 that features a boot up speed of about 20 seconds faster than a typical Windows 7 computer.

The new EE 2.0 certified PCs include ThinkPad T420, T420s and X220 laptops and the ThinkCentre M91p targeted at business-class users; Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s, E420s and Lenovo V470 laptops for small-medium businesses (SMBs); and Lenovo IdeaPad Y460p and Z470 as well as the Lenovo G470 laptops for consumers.

Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 is a new generation of the Enhanced Experience certification unique to Lenovo. It is the result of close technical cooperation between Lenovo and Microsoft in developing PCs that will not only run Windows 7 with ease, but will also help users get the most of the operating system.

Using Lenovo RapidBoot technology, EE 2.0 PCs have optimized system files, processes and hardware settings to achieve quicker boot and shutdown times compared with non-optimized PCs.

Lenovo Philippines Distributor Channels Manager, Francis Ivan Judan conducted a boot up test with Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s side by side with the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 to highlight EE 2.0. The boot up time of ThinkPad Edge E220s and Lenovo ThinkPad X201 was 24 seconds and 39 seconds respectively.