After making its mark in the PC market, Lenovo is now looking to top the smartphone market as the CEO of the Chinese manufacturer, Yang Yuanqing, said that although they have dominated in the PC world they are now exploring new sectors for growth. Talking to the Wall Street Journal, Yuanqing said that, “Smartphones are our new opportunity. As a public company you always have to consider how to grow.” The Chinese company is already doing well on its homeland, as Lenovo is the second biggest smartphone seller in the country after Samsung. The South Korean company holds 17.4 percent share in the smartphone market of China till 2012, whereas Lenovo was trailing it with 11 percent share. However, the significant point to note is that till 2011 Lenovo just has 4.1 percent share in the local market.
Nevertheless, this was not the first time that Lenovo was looking to expand its business outside China, as earlier it has focused on developing markets like Indonesia, Russia and India. Now it is aiming at U.S. and Europe but it would not be a easy task for the Chinese company to walk right into these markets and snatch a good chunk of market share from other manufacturers because competition in the states in quite tough. Therefore, to draw consumers Lenovo needs to work on building its reputation in Europe and U.S. Otherwise, things would be quite alike the PC market where internationally, HP is at the top, while Lenovo enjoys the second position, but when it comes to U.S. PC market the Chinese smartphone maker is at number five spot with just 9 percent share.
But it seems that Yang has other parameters, as he compares smartphone business with fashion industry, Yang said, “We know the importance of marketing, and we will strengthen that.” But before that Lenovo should learn the art of selling its smartphones in the U.S., as unlike Asian countries handset makers rely on telecom carriers to sell their phones rather than retailers in the east, who sell mobile devices in a huge volume.
Still one cannot completely rule Lenovo out of the race as earlier in January at CES 2013 the Chinese company has showcased its 5.5-inch phablet K900, which took everyone at the event by surprise and swiftly became a talk of the town because of its superior build and hardware specs. Lenovo has made the phablet available in China and it is doing well in the market. Let’s see how Americans and Europeans will react to it and other devices from Lenovo.
Source: GsmArena, PhoneArena
Photo: GizChina