Lenovo, the largest PC manufacturer in the world, aims to overtake Hewlett-Packard in the European market by 2015, and also implemented a growth strategy on the tablet and smartphone segment.
The Chinese multinational company with headquarters in Beijing, China and Morrisville, North Carolina anticipates a significant potential for expansion in Europe, Middle East and Africa (a region known as EMEA), said Gianfranco Lanci, president of Lenovo’s operations in the region.
“We want to become number one within the next 18 months — let’s say by the beginning of 2015,” said Lanci said in an interview at the IFA Berlin consumer electronics show. “There’s very big growth opportunities on PCs in the whole region and there’s still room to grow,” he added.
Hewlett -Packard retained its European supremacy in the second quarter, with a market share of 18 percent, but lost ground to Lenovo, which is growing, according to market analysis firm Gartner. Lenovo had a share in the second quarter of 12 percent , followed by Acer.
In order to become a leader on the IT market, Lenovo introduces new products such as laptops, notebooks and tablets. The company this week launched three ThinkPad laptops, thinner and lighter than previous models, and a collection of “multimode” devices for business and home users.
Lenovo revealed Thursday a premium smartphone to compete with the market leaders Samsung and Apple. Vibe X phone has a 5-inch screen and is powered by Android 4.2 operating system. The device will go on sale next month on the Chinese market and in other markets in December.
“We plan to enter Europe mid-next year” with this device, said Lanci. The price will be in the upper range of Lenovo smartphones outside China, between €149 and €499.
Lenovo is ranked second in the Chinese smartphone market and fourth in the world. Currently, the company wants to enter the market with smartphones that will directly compete with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone from Apple. Lenovo also wants to reach this year a 5 percent market share tablet market in EMEA and 10 percent in 2014.
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