Lenovo reorganises brand to compete with Apple

The world's largest personal computer vendor, Lenovo, has announced it will reorganise itself into two different business groups to better compete with Apple.

Quoting an internal email from chief executive Yang Yuanqing, Sina.com reports that the two will be named Lenovo Business Group and Think Business Group, effective April 1 this year.

In the email, Yang says the Lenovo brand will remain for mainstream consumer products and commercial desktop, laptop and tablet computers, as well as new areas such as smartphones and smart TVs.

The Think Business Group will compete in the high end of the market, with the enterprise class business devices and workstation team folded into the new unit.

"In the high-end market, Think will have the best brand assets to compete with Apple," Yang writes.

He says that while the company tried to promote the Lenovo brand in mature markets, it only received recognition for mainstream and low-end products. Yang believes separating the brand along two distinct themes will enhance the total company's potential in the separate market segments.

Since buying IBM's PC business unit in 2005, Lenovo has been bucking the trend of falling sales and profits that has hit other PC vendors, weathering competition from Apple and a turbulent market in which personal buyers opted for cheap tablets and smartphones.

October 2012 worldwide PC market share. Source: Gartner

Last year, Lenovo became the largest selling PC vendor in the world with a 15.7 per cent market share according to Gartner, nudging HP into second place with15.5 per cent. In Australia however, Lenovo runs at number five, behind Apple.

The company is betting on emerging markets and China (where it already holds a third of the PC market) for future growth.