Lenovo's Plans
Smartphone is a potential market for Lenovo, and a crucial part of their strategy. Here's why:
The PC+Tablet market is currently this:
1.) Apple
2.) Lenovo
3.) Samsung
What do #1 and #3 have that #2 does not? A smartphone practice. The global smartphone market is oversaturated, but what it the key market left everyone (especially Apple) is trying to crack? China. Which of these three companies is a Chinese firm? Lenovo. Lenovo doesn't need a foothold in the USA/Euro market. They're going to own the China market. They will introduce a fully functioned, low cost Android phone and take the market by storm.
Google kept the patents when they sold Moto to Lenovo, because Lenovo WILL sell Android phones, not Windows Phones (sorry MS). This is important to consider when you look at Apple's foothold in the "PC" market: tablets. The Lenovo Yoga tablets have mostly been MS Surface type ventures and have been growing decently. The Moto biz will allow them to dive right into Android tablets and take Samsung to task overnight, before Samsung takes the #2 spot from Lenovo. Then all eyes turn to Apple, where the #1 spot is fated to fall to Lenovo as Apple shrinks away from the margin closing mobile market, doomed to their 2% bit player share like they see with laptops.
iOS share has fallen from 49% to 35%, while Google OSes now rank in at 61%. Windows 8 is forcing Lenovo to leave the ChomeOS window open, as Chromebook sales skyrocket in our increasingly cloud world.
Apple and Microsoft are on notice. Google+Lenovo+Samsung is a force to be reckoned with. Microsoft is fleeing into enterprise software and clinging to the gaming market. Apple has no where to hide (other than music sales, which is somewhat platform dependent). Expect the next 5-10 years to change the IT landscape a bit, possibly leaving Lenovo the king of hardware from PCs to tablets to phones to servers.