Lenovo India, the Indian arm of Lenovo Group, will soon enter the country's tablet market and launch its first product within six months.
While the company will brand its tablet as LePad for the China market, a decision is yet to be taken on the name it will be called in the rest of the world, Mr Amar Babu, managing director, said.
LePad will make its debut in China, Lenovo's largest market, by the end of this fiscal. Lenovo will be using Android software for its tablet.
“The price of the product has not yet been decided upon but prices will be competitive in both the India and China markets,” Mr Babu said on the sidelines of Infocom 2010-11.
The tablets will be manufactured from the Lenovo Group's new unit, the Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group. This group will make tablets, smart phones and devices for smart TVs and cloud computing.
The number of tablets in the market has been proliferating since the launch of Apple's iPad. While Samsung has already come out with its Android-based Galaxy Tab, other players such as HP, Microsoft, Toshiba and LG have announced the launch of theirs.
UNLIKELY TO REPLACE LAPTOPS
Mr Babu said: “Considering the different usages in the models, it is unlikely that tablets, despite their popularity, will replace laptops. However, netbook sales may be affected.”
After buying IBM's PC business in 2005, Lenovo currently is the fourth biggest computer maker in the country (behind Hewlett Packard, Dell and Acer), having a market share of 10 per cent.
ENTERPRISE PURCHASE
According to the company, a recovery from the recession of 2008 has resulted in an increase in purchases from small and medium businesses and enterprises. This has resulted in a 62 per cent growth for the company in the quarter ending December 31. The company expects the market to grow at a rate of 15-20 per cent in the coming five years.