IBM PC's going Chinese?
 

New Lenovo takes shape
By John G. Spooner, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: March 3, 2005, 1:32 PM PT

The nouveau Lenovo wants to shake up the PC market's status quo.


Lenovo Group, China's top PC maker, is moving ahead with its plans to acquire and incorporate IBM's PC business, despite the deal being the subject of an ongoing review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal interagency panel chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The new Lenovo has already formed a team of top executives and established an integration plan; it has also begun evaluating ways to market Lenovo-designed computers outside of China--all with the intent of being ready to compete as soon as the deal, scheduled to close in the second quarter, is done.

"We are chomping at the bit to have the deal close," said Fran O'Sullivan, a 22-year IBM PC executive who will become chief operating officer for Lenovo International, which will handle the company's business outside of China. "It's more exciting now than it was then," she said, referring to her time at IBM during the go-go days of the early PC market.

The new Lenovo, as its executives have referred to it, aims to combine its own business in China with IBM's in the rest of the world, creating a PC giant that can compete globally with Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Lenovo is set to become the world's third-largest PC maker, after Dell and HP, when the multibillion-dollar deal, announced last December, is completed.

The company also aims to bring Lenovo PCs, now available only in China, to the rest of the world. These machines have some attractive features; several of Lenovo's machines, including the Tian Jino A desktop, which includes a built-in voice over IP telephone, look more like they might have been built by Apple Computer, rather than a company like IBM.

But even assuming Lenovo does everything right, it still has a mountain to climb. Dell, the king of the hill, and HP aren't likely to cede market share willingly. Moreover, they can use the uncertainty created by the Lenovo deal as ammunition in an attempt to woo away IBM's corporate customers, analysts have said. At the same time, despite its fresh-looking designs and the potential for the new Lenovo to offer lower prices thanks to its greater scale, its brand name is untested outside of China.

Lenovo is "basically as good as anybody else, but people don't know that," said Roger Kay, analyst with IDC. "The challenge is to acquaint people to Lenovo. The other issue on the reverse side is retaining IBM's enterprise customers, who might be concerned that the change in management means something's disintegrating and that IBM's best technology is coming from its other groups."

O'Sullivan admits that between now and the close of the deal, the new Lenovo has a lot of work to do. But she says it will move swiftly, operating under the new slogan that "status quo is a no go in the new Lenovo."

Having settled its executive ranks, Lenovo's main initiatives now involve taking advantage of its larger scale--something that can bring better prices on the parts it needs to build its PCs--and establishing the Lenovo brand name. It's begun working on ways to sell Lenovo-


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That's not the issue...the fact is, that's even more money into the Chinese government's pockets. I hope our government blocks it all...

Kinda too late to be worrying about it isn't it?

Yeah, but I can still whine and complain :P

will i can see China will soon buy the USA country out soon, sucking up all the cash flow their way. American people soon be homeless and out of work do it the pay rate vs China employee get pay and the over head is really low do to tax's.

there is one thing that can kill the Lenovo PC's the China Standers are low and workmanship is cheaper. then some high grade system that last longer, so their PC may not last long as the high grade system would that are made in the USA or some other country's.

really think it be better to make your own system at less you know what your getting in it.

China is good at making copy's of hardware for the PC some are knockoff so watch-out for them knockoff too.

sorry if i hurt any one feeling but i for one will never trust anything made in china other then a flower pot and dishes to eat off on.

i for one got stuck with a Cd Writer that was a knock off made in China and there was a block in the USA for it not to be sold in the states it was and Gateway Mfg had to pay a heavy fine for it Fed's got them but good. i gone out call Africa a MFG if this Cd writer they told me to get another Cd-Writer their brand and send them the Slip of sales for it, they pay me half on what it cost me talk about a rebate cost USD-80.00 i only pay USD-40.00 after i rec-the rebate it was made in UK. it doing great, the knockoff use to crash my system like crazy no more crashes for me.

same with places like india...but fast food won't be replaced, and stores need workers, and no stores less customers... we need to keep buisnesses here in the uS

the USA need to set a rate for items like they had in the 60's before the cost of things go out the windows way things are going high pay job be dirt cheap and cost of liven be still going up. sad

don't know if the AUS & UK having same trouble as the USA is lossing job do to cost to make these items

No thanks. That's socialism, and I want no part of it. We're already socialist enough.

Whoa we be socialist? Then how come we not social with other countries? :D

I'd say we're pretty social...downright promiscuous if you ask me :D