By Ibrahim Olukotun
Lagos. January 31, 2013: Lenovo is targetting the Nigerian market alongside other emerging economies to gain huge market share in the smartphone segment, the Chinese technology company has announced.
Having witnessed steady growth in its home country of China, the world’s No.2 maker of personal computers seeks to offset slowing growth in the traditional PC sector by seeking more markets overseas for its range of smartphones.
It was gathered that as PC demand growth slows, Lenovo has been diversifying into the mobile device sector to tap robust demand for smartphones and tablets.
Lenovo recently recently unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the K900. Lenovo prides it as a premium smartphone with a super-slim profile whose look and feel make it a must-have for those who will see and be seen with their smartphones.
“A unique blend of design and performance, the K900 sports a 5.5-inch IPS screen, one of the best camera arrays available in class and a super slim 6.9mm profile, all running on an Intel Atom processor”, says about the K900.
Yang Yuanqing, chief executive, Lenovo says the company direction will be shifted more to the smartphone segment underscoring that the tech giant has achieved substantial level of stability in its mainstay business in the PC segment.
“For the rest of the emerging markets, we will continue to invest in the smartphone business to drive market share”, he says while announcing that the company recorded its best-ever quarterly profit last quarter.
Lenovo which is also the second biggest smartphones vendor in China currently faces intense competition from major players like Samsung and Apple in countries like Russia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam where its smartphones are selling.
In the third quarter 2012, overall revenue grew 12 per cent from a year earlier to $9.4 billion, but the bulk of that still came from its PC business.
Lenovo has rapidly gained market share in the PC sector on the back of acquisitions over the past few years. The company trails Hewlett Packard Co by a slim margin in PC shipments, according to technology research group IDC.
However, market analysts foresee that Lenovo will have to compete head-on not only with major global players, but also with Chinese rivals like Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, which are already among the top five smartphone players globally.
“Its strategy in diversifying into smartphones has proved quite successful in China, but it will be quite difficult for Lenovo to be as successful as say, Samsung, in overseas markets,” says Audrey Chiu, a manager at the investment and research division of Truswell Securities Investment Trust.
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