“When Lenovo, the world’s fourth-largest PC vendor, launched its tablet computer on Monday night, the world was not invited,” Kathrin Hille reports for The Financial Times.
“The company treated Chinese media to a lavish party in Shanghai, and the LePad – a device with a 10.1-inch screen powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor – went on sale in China only,” Hille reports. “And yet, some industry experts see the Chinese company, under Yang Yuanqing, chief executive, as the most likely future rival for Apple in the global tablet market.”
“Manish Nigam, head of Asia technology research at Credit Suisse, said Lenovo might be the best positioned among the new tablet vendors because of its dominant position in China. The company has a 30 per cent share in the world’s second-largest and fastest-growing PC market,” Hille reports. “‘Lenovo is well-placed to make its tablet work. They have been a good engineering company,’ said Mr Nigam.”
Hille reports, “Kirk Yang, head of non-Japan Asian hardware technology research at Barclays Capital, said he expected Apple’s market share to slide to about 72% this year and named Lenovo, Samsung, RIM and Acer as strong candidates for grabbing at least 10% each of the remaining market.”
Hille reports, “At Rmb3,499 ($532), the LePad is more expensive than the cheapest iPad, which is available from Rmb2,888 in China. But many Chinese consumers are more likely to compare Lenovo’s tablet with the iPad 2. Apple’s latest product has not officially started selling in China, but grey market imports are available from Rmb5,000.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, that’s it! Apple might as well just pack it in. (smirk)
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