Lenovo’s Tablet, Smartphone Focus: New Business Unit Created

Lenovo is creating a new business group, the Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group, that will create mobile Internet-focused devices including tablets, smartphones, devices for cloud computing, smart TVs and digital home products.

The development comes at a critical time. Many analysts say that PCs are a mature market that could begin to decline starting in a few years as more mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones gain momentum.

Lenovo says the new business group will be responsible for creating services and applications to fuel next generation “convergence” devices.

Liu Jun, formerly senior vice president and president of Lenovo’s Product Group, will lead the new group as president. He is based at the company’s China headquarters in Beijing. The company has promoted Peter Hortensius, formerly head of its Think Product Group, to president of its Product Group. He is based at Lenovo’s U.S. headquarters in Raleigh, NC.

“Lenovo recognizes the tremendous growth potential of the mobile internet, as well as that of new categories like cloud computing and smart TV, and so we are putting the focus and investments in place to fully capitalize on these opportunities to drive growth in our business today and for many years to come,” said Yang Yuanqing, chief executive officer, Lenovo, in a statement. “The Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group will help us leverage our leadership in the PC arena to create a rich portfolio of Internet-centric devices. At the same time, we’ll use our creativity, innovation and technical prowess to help our customers navigate the future of personal technology worldwide.”

Lenovo’s moves to create a formal business group around these technologies follows the companies introductions of the Lenovo IdeaPad UI Hybrid which combines a tablet and laptop in one device, and its LePad tablet introduced at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. In 2010, the company entered the smartphone market in China. Lenovo also showcased smart TV and digital home technologies at CES and has plans to develop and deliver new products in these areas.