Lenovo enters Ultrabook market with ThinkPad XI Carbon

Celebrating 20 years of brand ThinkPad, Lenovo India launched what it claims to be the world lightest Ultrabook – the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, here in Mumbai on Monday. The Chinese PC giant which, over the years, has managed to capture a 17 per cent share of the computer and laptop market in India launched this 14-inch,1.3 kilograms, Ultrabook to cater to the demands of customers seeking the highest levels of mobility, performance, entertainment and design.

Speaking on the launch, Amar Babu, Managing Director, Lenovo India exclaimed that the company was extremely proud of constantly driving innovations on the ThinkPad platform for the last two decades. "Lenovo has seen phenomenal growth overall as well as in the commercial business where we have sustained leadership consistently for two quarters. And with the launch of ThinkPad X1Carbon, we are confident of continuing this rich legacy and offering performance users a product," said Babu.

On asking what strategy worked out for Lenovo India catapulting it into the leadership position, Babu told TSI that, it was the sheer opportunity to grow which established Lenovo as a formidable player in India and other emerging markets. Theirs has been a ‘protect and attack’ strategy. In the enterprise segment – where Lenovo have significant competitive advantage over others – they have protected the business by adding value and retaining customers as they acquired newer ones. On the other hand, with small and medium businesses (SMB), the company has been aggressive in implementing an attack strategy. “We have attracted consumers by investing in brands and creating retail outlets. We need to replicate that model in the SMB segment as well. We are No.1 in India and need to sustain that position. In a way, India's growth also mirrors our global success where Lenovo stands at no. 2.”

In the consumer product segment, Lenovo’s market share has increased from 7 per cent to 12 per cent, while in the SMB segment it rose to 7per cent. Lenovo has realised that SMB customers have a distinct set of needs which intersect between performance and home use. Accordingly, Babu and team have introduced a slew of multimedia features and removed the redundant ones.

In a world dominated by brands as iconic as Apple’s MacBooks, ThinkPad is one of those fortunate product lines which have managed to establish a loyal fan following. Given that the Ultrabook market in India is at a nascent stage where it is hard to find a high performance Ultrabook at a favorable price point, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon looks to be a winner for now.