[photopress:Lenovo.jpg,full,alignright]Lenovo is trying to move its brand image from being a sort of Big Blue — IBM — manufacturer to the truth which is that Lenovo is both the maker and distributor. It has made a start by removing the IBM logo from popular ThinkPad laptops sold to big corporate customers.
Beijing Business Today quoted an unidentified source from the ThinkPad business unit of Lenovo Greater China as saying, ‘We now ask our big customers whether they need the logo. If the answer is no, there won’t be IBM marks on the ThinkPads they buy.’ Difficult to imagine a major company insisting on a logo which is just for decoration and not a reflection of the truth.
Lenova bought IBM’s PC unit in 2005. In order to maintain its appeal for global customers, it obtained the right to retain the famous IBM logo on the previously IBM-developed computers, including the Think series, until 2010.
Pictures of Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X60 without IBM logos have recently appeared on the Internet. It seems unlikely that Lenovo will rush to remove the IBM logos for retail customers because, at that level, they still have sales appeal built in.
Lenovo will stick to its strategy of developing cheap Lenovo-branded products aimed at retail customers and small and medium-sized enterprises while selling high-end IBM-branded Think series to large companies.
Then comes the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which it will sponsor. Beyond debate it will sponsor it as Lenovo and ignore the IBM branding.
Sales of Lenovo’s personal computers soared 25% in China but slumped 9% in the United States in the July-September period, according to the company’s fiscal report released last November.
Source: China Daily
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