There are lots of conflicting reports being published about whether Windows 8 is a success or not, whether it’s in demand or not and whether it’s outsold Windows 7 or not. Now we have a new report for you, courtesy of cnet, saying that Lenovo and the industry in general has “underestimated demand for touch computers”. It seems to me like Microsoft knew this would happen and that is part of the implementation decision behind the Microsoft Surface.
Gerry Smith, Lenovo's president of the North America region, spoke to cnet about PC sales and the state of the industry. He told the tech magazine that the industry underestimated touch screen demand, sales of premium-priced computers are growing and Lenovo is growing. Lenovo’s strength and success in the face of the PC market slump is undeniable, looking at its recent set of results. Just under a month ago HEXUS reported this story: Lenovo beats the global PC industry gloom. In its most recent financial quarter Lenovo reported a 12.6 per cent growth in net profits. Smith agreed that Lenovo is bucking the trend and said “Lenovo's a little different from other companies. We're still seeing strong growth and a strong premium to the market overall...And this quarter, we're seeing strong growth across all product segments.”
Lenovo touch screen convertibles
Getting back to the topic of touch screens, Smith said that there are widespread supply shortages but that should be getting better soon. He explained the misstep by saying “As you go through any major architectural transition, you try to forecast accurately how much the attach rate will be on touch (or other features). Across every major shift over the past 10 years, we're never (been)right. The learning is, how do you respond to that? How does the industry change and evolve”. He went on to estimate that over 50 per cent of Lenovo PCs will have touchscreens by 2015.
When the touch panel supply issue is fixed I’d like to see Lenovo release a Yoga convertible running Windows 8 Pro at a price to rival ASUS’s recently released £449 touchscreen Vivobook S200E. Looking at Lenovo’s current Yoga offerings gives my wallet indigestion; the Windows RT powered Yoga 11 is about £700 and the Intel powered Windows 8 Yoga Ideapad 13 is £1000. Hopefully Lenovo will unleash its “protect and attack” strategy on the UK soon.
Lenovo Pocket Yoga prototype
