Business users embrace hybrids in post-PC age: Lenovo
September 15, 2015 - 12:00AM
Convertible "hybrid" computing devices are no longer niche products in the eyes of desktop computing giant Lenovo as it fights to stake its claim in the so-called "post-PC" age.
In the 10 years since it bought IBM's PC business, including the iconic ThinkPad brand,
China's Lenovo has risen to become the world's No. 1 PC seller.
Computer sales have fallen with the rise of tablets – where Lenovo sits at No. 3, globally, behind rivals Apple and Samsung – but now tablet sales are falling faster than PC sales.
Today's sales growth is coming from hybrid devices which sit between a notebook and a tablet.
The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 14
Photo: Supplied
While they began life as consumer-focused novelties, hybrids paved the way for more polished, business-focused "notebook replacements". Their keyboards either detach – like Microsoft's Surface Pro tablets and Apple's new iPad Pro – or they fold back behind the screen like Lenovo's ThinkPad Yoga.
Hybrids are yet to rival traditional PC sales but they're are outselling tablets, Lenovo Asia-Pacific president Roderick Lappin says.
While initially aimed at consumers, Lenovo's convertible Yoga range won favour with business users; spawning the ThinkPad Yoga and the Surface Pro-style IdeaPad Miix 700, which was launched at the recent IFA technology show in Berlin.
"Hybrid certainly isn't a niche, it's a serious product category," Lappin says. "PC sales are slowly coming down, but within that is the 2-in-1 convertible space, which is growing dramatically, and we're No. 1 in that space.
"Clearly, the hybrid concept has been honed over the last few years, but I'd say the bigger change is that people are coming around to the idea of hybrids; they want to be productive and to be productive you need a keyboard."
The key to Lenovo's success is focusing on product innovation and acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for personal computing, Lappin says.
He doesn't expect one design to win out and believes the market is large and diverse enough for several portable computing form factors to co-exist.
Lenovo has designed a product "based on what people want", Lappin says of the similarities between Lenovo's Miix 700 and Microsoft's Surface 3 Pro.
"The reality is that when you look at the Windows tablet space, the No.1 player is Microsoft with Surface and there's a reason for it. It's not actually a tablet, it's a notebook replacement hitting the sweet spot in that 2-in-1 convertible category," he says.
"We've looked at it and said 'we can deliver something as good if not better, with more ports and a lot more dynamism'. We understand keyboards a lot better, so we can put a keyboard on it and still be well priced."
An established business computing brand in Australia, Lenovo entered the local consumer market last year, establishing new offices and striking major retail partnerships with JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman. While selling tablets in Australia, Lenovo is yet to offer smartphones; instead backing the Motorola brand acquired from Google last year.
Lenovo is also expanding into the gaming PC market, leveraging its ownership of German PC maker Medion to launch several high-end gaming PCs at IFA in Berlin.
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Business users embrace hybrids in post-PC age: Lenovo
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