More competition has been presented to the iPad in the form of Lenovo’s line of 3 tablet computers which it plans to sell world wide. These will mostly run on Android OS or Microsoft’s Windows 7. Gadget makers like Samsung and Research In Motion already exist in this category and Lenovo also has a tablet in the Chinese market that uses Android OS. They are even planning to price it similar to Apple Inc.’s iPad.
This move can be seen in line with the expansionary policy of Lenovo in the mobile device market which includes smartphones. IdeaPad is what Lenovo calls its tablets and they are bound to hit the U.S. market by August and later world wide. They are segmented in to three categories and are named as IdeaPad Tablet K1 for consumers, ThinkPad for business users and IdeaPad Tablet P1 for home users. The 10.1 inch touch screen is common to all these models. The existing model in the Chinese market runs on the latest Android software Honeycomb.
Experts believe that Apple Inc.’s announcement of their fiscal third quarter earnings of $7.1 billion is what prompted Lenovo to make this declaration.
The ThinkPad uses Android and will be priced at $479 for a 16 GB tablet with WiFi support. Also, shortly after that it will release tablets with 3G enabled systems. The K1 tablet will be available for $499. Lenovo launched a LePad in China which is more like laptop since it has a slide out keyboard. It plans to launch a new version called U1 early next year.
Mr. Read said that Lenovo is trying to strengthen its strategic position and scale of operations and for this it will look to make more acquisitions. Demonstrating this, Mr.Read said that Lenovo is acquiring a German company Medion AG for more than $658 million in cash and stock partly via a public offer.
As Samsung launched its Galaxy Tab device in South Korea after its launch in the U.S. and some parts of Europe, Mr.J.K.Shin, president of the mobile communications division of the company hoped that they should be able to sell more than five million devices this year.