Lenovo plans R&D centre in India
13 Mar 2008
Mumbai: Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's fourth largest computer maker, is considering plans for setting up a research and development centre in India, company officials said after the launch of a new range of computers.
"We are constantly evaluating opportunities (for a centre)," said India managing director Amar Babu.
"When we bump up our business here, may be," added senior vice president Liu Jun.
Lenovo launched a new consumer PC brand `Idea' in India. The new consumer-oriented IdeaPad notebooks and IdeaCentre desktops will complement Lenovo's business-oriented ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops.
The Idea range comes with frameless screens, touch-sensitive control surfaces and unique textures. It combines cutting-edge and easy-to-use technologies such as face recognition, Dolby home theater surround sound and dedicated gaming controls. The range is incorporated with features such as one Key recovery, ThinkPad inspired keyboard and an extended battery management feature to customise user-specific battery usage patterns and antibacterial keyboards.
Lenovo plans to roll out its marketing campaign called `Ideas everywhere', to complement the product introduction in April 2008.
"Lenovo has a significant focus on the consumer segment in India. The new IdeaPad and IdeaCentre products will deliver to our customers, an experience and products that are inspiring, dependable, exciting and aspirational," said Anil Philip, executive director, transaction business, Lenovo India.
The Chinese firm, which in 2005 bought IBM's loss-making PC arm, has said it would focus overseas investment on emerging markets like India, Brazil, Mexico, the Middle East and eastern Europe, where computer penetration is low.
