Posted on 04/17/2006 8:36:59 AM PDT by Salo
After having finally acquired IBM’s ThinkPad division, Lenovo has not really had an impressive ride thus far, and not without reason. There was a reason why ThinkPad was so successful (legendary reliability with support from one of the world’s largest technology companies). Users trusted IBM. In fact, they still do and that is one of the prime reasons that even though Lenovo has bought over the brand, nowhere on a ThinkPad does it say Lenovo.
Despite the overall poor performance, Lenovo has still not gained the mindshare or the respect that the ThinkPads command. In fact, it has, to some extent, alienated ThinkPad’s fans and taken a sales hit. In my immediate vicinity, those who owned ThinkPads have now traded up to an HP or a Toshiba. None of them went back to their ThinkPads. After asking for a clarification, I was told, "Who wants to buy things from a Chinese company?" Clearly, this isn’t a sensible answer and is derived emotionally (subjectively) than objectively, but could you really blame them?
And there in lies Lenovo’s problem.
China today is synonymous with inexpensive labor and average quality workmanship (similar to the way Japan was portrayed in consumer electronics decades ago until it changed its image). Similarly, no one wants to purchase anything consumer electronics related that’s made in China and is sold by a Chinese company.
Again, I agree that everyone gets products made in China anyway so what’s the problem? The problem is perception. The perception is that IBM is a great company and makes great products. This was reinforced by the truly legendary products that ThinkPads were (are?). Same is the case with Apple. Sure, iPod may be manufactured in China, but since an American company retails it, we trust it more.
And for this trust, we are willing to shell out a premium. But what if they [users] don’t trust the parent company any more?
Today, users don’t trust Lenovo. They don’t see the point in buying notebooks from a Chinese brand which they hadn’t much heard about until it acquired IBM’s PC division. In short, Lenovo doesn’t command the brand premium like an IBM does or can. Strangely though, Lenovo has decided to maintain the same prices. There won’t be any price cuts, not many anyways. And it’s due to this that it might perhaps begin to lose its accumulated marketshare. As HP and others cut prices and get them down to seriously unheard of levels, Lenovo is still sitting pretty at exorbitant levels. Result? Drop in marketshare.
As lenovo embarks on step two of the integration, I sincerely hope it learns from its previous mistakes and begins to make amends. It has the volume and a smashing product to truly be the number one player in the notebook segment. All it has to do is play its cards right.
Pings, please.
Why not call the company Chi-Com-puters, LLC?.........
No kidding, I am on a four year old dell laptop and was slated to get upgraded this year but my office uses Lenovo so I am holding out until they go back to Dell (which looks more and more likely every day)..
Was there any change in the manufacturing process as a result of the sale? Did Lenovo only buy the rights or was it a swap-out of management at existing facilities, retaining the worker bees? In fact, aren't there manufacturing facilities right here in the good ole US of A? I see nothing in that article that gives any concrete evidence of a problem, only of xenophobia ... or would it be Sinophobia in this case?
As far as I know, nothing changed except instead of being backed by Big Blue, they are now backed by Big Red.
I can't think of any computers - especially laptops - that don't ship with fortune cookies.
Despite the poor performance ???
Thanks for the info. I was a Thinkpad fan, but will now switch to Sony. Japan is better than China.
Believe it or not, and a propos of nothing, this cheap little E-Machines E-Slate 450K laptop running Windows 98 and upgraded last week to a whopping 256 megs of RAM has been one of the most reliable laptops I've ever owned.
Not sure offhand where it was made.
I think they manufacture in the PRC, too. BTW, Sony is responsible for some craptacualar DRM that has roached many windows machines. I'd buy Dell or something else (not Toishiba).
"Mindshare" - always good to keep up on marketingspeak.
They need to go to bright red plastic for the cases and call the "Little Red Notebooks"
My brother, who runs his own business doing PC support, had a major, major nightmare with a Chinese company that sold some kind of special software. He did not realize it was a Communist Chinese company, and when he tried to get support to even make the application work, they ignored his calls and refused to communicate.
He tried to get satisfaction through his credit card company, to no avail. They apparently couldn't touch those people in any way.
The major issue, as I see it, is not xenophobia, but the fact that the Chinese have no conception of intellectual property or customer support. Piracy is rampant and condoned, even encouraged by the government on on side, and on the other side they make nice with the West, saying they DO care about it and are cracking down.
"In my immediate vicinity, those who owned ThinkPads have now traded up to an HP or a Toshiba."
Trading from a Thinkpad, or any other brand laptop to an HP is a Trade Down, Step Down, Mistake.
HP has the worst Tech support of any US bases Computer Company. Not to mention that several of their models like to eat hard disks, because of poor heat management.
Toshisba is ok, Sony(only if your a consumer, they aren't business machines).
Really DELL is the only way to go, unless your a die hard gamer, and then ALIENWARE is your best choice.
But When it comes to support, both on the web and one the phone you can't beat DELL.
Standard Chinese design & manufacturing process for consumer electronics:
1) Buy / steal / bargain for design for electronic product.
2) Build prototype of product as originally designed per original specs
3) Sort bill of materials (parts list) by price, high to low
4) Mark all parts on BoM as "Might Be Necessary"
5) Remove highest-priced "Might Be Necessary" part still on BoM from prototype.
6) Test prototype to see if it still works
7) If prototype still works, eliminate part from BoM
8) If prototype does not work now, re-classify part as "Necessary"
9) Repeat from step 5 until all parts have been examined
I have seen this first hand.
I currently have a "new" Thinkpad T42 - company issue. I have already had a motherboard replaced and now having other hardware issues. If this is indicative of how the "great" Thinkpads work, I'll be asking for a Dell next time.
Though mine says IBM on it and may have been made before Lenovo bought the company, I refuse to support this product line again. Besides, I don't want any commie country to have a hand in making the critical parts of a system that I am currently using to remotely control network device access servers for my defense industry company. Just doesn't sit well with me.
Besides, I don't want any commie country to have a hand in making the critical parts of a system that I am currently using to remotely control network device access servers for my defense industry company. Just doesn't sit well with me.
Actually, Dell is easily beaten by Apple.
PC Magazine - 18th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey-
Once again, Apple achieves scores that are far and away the highest for all vendors in our survey, earning Readers' Choices in both desktops and notebooks. For Apple, in both the desktop and notebook sections of the survey, every single score is significantly better than the industry average for Windows machines. No exceptions. Apple's overall score for desktops is 9.2, and the closest competing score, Alienware's, is 8.8. Apple's overall score for notebooks, 9.2, is just as high, and the rest are even further behind: IBM and Fujitsu are the closest, at 8.4.
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