A hybrid laptop from Lenovo called IdeaPad U1 was introduced at the CES show in January of this year. It never went on sale. Now Lenovo, which was the computer division of IBM but is now a company in China, has rejigged that machine. Originally the device was an 11.6-inch laptop with a detachable screen which could work independently as a tablet.
Now Lenovo IdeaPad U1 is divided into two separate products. The first, LePad, is a 10.1-inch tablet which will be released in China in December and is plainly designed to compete with Apple’s iPad. The second is the optional docking station with a QWERTY keyboard, which turns IdeaPad U1 into a real laptop. It is suggested that later the product will be released in its original form.
So why did this happen? According to ITChuiko, probably because of the success of Apple’s iPad.