Lenovo downplays its IBM past

THE NEW FACE of Lenovo appears to be rapidly moving away from its IBM legacy, if the look of its web site is any guide.

At this page, for example, the firm's emission statements "We are the new", "We are the future", "We are Lenovo" gives little indication that the Chinese government backed firm is the new face of the IBM PC Company.

There are StinkPad and StinkCentre PCs shown on its front page but click on their images and the IBM connection is hard to find.

However, if you click on a link titled Learn more from our chairman and our CEO, that takes you to an old PC IBM site and pictures Yuanging Yang and Steve Ward.

Here, the boys say the "new Lenovo" is "more committed to innovation in IT clients than any other company". Ward and Yuanging "have a passion for innovation".

Lenovo doesn't just have one emission statement, however, it says it is "on a mission". The Agenda link says that commoditisation might be a great way to deliver new technology. "Some in our industry are content to build nothing but commodities. It's easy. It's predictable. They're frankly proud of it".

So it's Dell the New Lenovo is really gunning for, then. And its IBM legacy is definitely being played down. What's next for Big Blue to spin off? IBM Microelectronics? µ