Lenovo is moving away from its business origins with the launch of a new consumer-oriented PC line, dubbed the "Idea" range, later this month.
The PC maker is hoping a foothold in the consumer market will give its business PCs a boost: "As many consumers trust the brand of PC they use at home for their work, there are additional opportunities to leverage our brand in the consumer market with the commercial side of the business," said David Nicol, director of small-business and consumer products for Australia and New Zealand.
Lenovo's move may also be driven by the strong growth in the global consumer PC market: industry analyst Gartner projects that the global home PC market will grow by 12.7 percent between 2006 and 2011, compared with a 10.7 percent increase in the global business PC market over the same period.
Lenovo's Idea range will include "IdeaPad" notebooks and "IdeaCentre" desktops. The first two IdeaPads will be the 17-inch Y710 and the 15.4-inch Y510. The IdeaPads will include facial recognition, Dolby Home Theatre surround sound and dedicated gaming controls.
The IdeaCentre desktops will include features such as data recovery, facial recognition and antibacterial keyboards.
Lenovo will be joining an already crowded and competitive market, competing with leaders HP, Acer and Dell.
Nicol said Lenovo's move was motivated by the "tremendous opportunity [we know] exists untapped in the consumer market for Lenovo", as "consumer notebook growth is expected to increase 25 percent [according to IDC], in the first quarter of 2008".
