Lenovo will push into mobile products

CHINESE MANUFACTURER of formerly IBM PCs, Lenovo said that it is going to start focusing on wireless gear.

Lenovo expects wireless Internet products to account for up to 80 per cent of its sales within five years, CEO Yang Yuanqing told the world plus dog this morning.

The company released its first mobile Internet gear in January with the unveiling of a smartphone and two WiFi-linked portable computers.

Yang told the Associated Press that mobile Internet products will be very important for Lenovo's five year plan.

He said that even now notebook sales are higher than those of desktops and "mobile Internet products are going to be 70 to 80 per cent of our sales ... within three to five years."

Mobile Internet sales will be heavily marketed in emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Lenovo needs something to get its teeth into. The outfit has suffered three losing quarters before rebounding to a profit in the second half of last year.

Yang said Lenovo's longer-term strategy was going to be "protect and attack". It calls for building up its dominant presence in China.

Corporate spending on computers has yet to rebound but companies are expected to step up purchasing in the second half of this year, Yang predicted. µ