Last year, marketshare shifted to consumer side globall

In the last one year, Lenovo faced losses of $226 million globally. In
India too, its performance was not as one would have expected. What contributed
to this?

Jun: In Lenovo, we have two core competencies. We have leading business in
global large enterprise segment and we have leading marketshare in China. In the
last one year, because of the ups and downs in the market, most of the
marketshare shifted to consumer side globally, and after Olympics, the Chinese
economy has not been stable. But we are confident that we will now build our
momentum in the market.

Liu Jun Sr VP-Idea Product Group, Lenovo	Frances O'Sullivan Sr VP-Product Group, Lenovo

Fran O'Sullivan: Consumer segment has been very strong in China but not in
other countries. The key for us is to have a portfolio of the Idea product
around the world so that it performs well in India and in other emerging
countries. This is why we are positioning ourselves to high-end and large
enterprise customers.

Recently, Lenovo announced that it would launch 50 new products this year.
What is the strategy behind launching a wide range of products in the period
when the market condition is not the best?

Jun: We will be launching several products, like netbooks, notebooks or
all-in-ones to meet various customers' requirements, both for SMBs and
consumers. The reason for launching the wide range of products is that we have
to keep a finger on the pulse of the customers.

O'Sullivan: We understand customer requirements and develop products
accordingly with our partners. Our competitors shop technology from the OEMs but
we develop everything internally.

How are you going to enthuse your channel partners?

O'Sullivan: In India, we have presence in tier-1 and 2 markets through our
distributors-Redington, Ingram, Iris and Neoteric Infomatique. We are leveraging
our channel partners to tap the upcountry market.

Amrita Tejasvi

amritat@cybermedia.co.in