Lenovo is taking aim at the booming small business market with a new line of ThinkPad notebook computers tailored for entrepreneurs. Its ThinkPad Edge line redesigns technology long relied on by global corporations to fit the needs and preferences of operators whose territory may be smaller.
Analysts project the number of small businesses worldwide will climb to 45 million in 2010 and that they will account for two-thirds of the notebook computers sold.
"Small business is an enormous market and it is growing fast," Lenovo Thinkpad notebooks segment manager Charles Sune said while providing a glimpse at the new Edge models.
The Edge design is the first significant change to the Thinkpad design in 17 years and for the first time ever adds AMD microprocessors to machines that had been driven exclusively by Intel chips.Thinkpads have traditionally targeted government agencies, academic institutions, corporations and other large organizations.
Neo AMD chips provide Edge computers with high graphics performance while enabling Lenovo to offer a base model for $550. Some 70% of the laptops sold are priced less than $1,000.
Lenovo has also reacted to growing interest in netbooks, bare-bones laptops built to perform a few basic applications and act as gateways to software offered as services in the Internet "cloud."Large corporations are showing intense interest in lightweight, inexpensive ultraportable computers that can serve as "second-use machines" for employees on the go, according to Lenovo.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
