lenovo

The Wednesday IDC report on the disastrous state of the PC industry had one very interesting tidbit that many overlooked: Namely, that while companies such as HP (HPQ) and Acer (2353) saw their shipments collapse by more than 20% year-over-year, Lenovo (LNVGY) actually held steady and experienced no decline in shipments. According to Businessweek, there are a couple of reasons for this: First, Lenovo has been targeting its sales toward emerging markets such as Brazil and its native China, where demand for new PCs is higher than in the United States, Europe, Japan and Korea. Businessweek also says that Lenovo “makes almost one-third of its products in house, which helps it innovate and get those innovations to the market more quickly” while also allowing it “to rely less on factories that are also making computers for its competitors.” Having completely flat growth may not be ideal for most businesses, of course, but in the 2013 PC market, holding your ground is something of a miraculous triumph.

With a variety of smaller Android tablets already available, along with the iPad mini and the possibility of an Xbox Surface, 2013 is shaping up to be the year of the 7-inch tablet. In fact, worldwide sales of 7-inch tablets are expected to double from 34 million units in 2012 to 67 million in 2013. Smaller tablets already account for 28% of all projected tablet sales in 2012 and are on pace to increase to 33% by 2013. Despite these numbers, however, the world’s largest PC vendor isn’t worried. Lenovo (0992), which also offers a variety of 7-inch devices, expects the growing 7-inch tablet market to compete with large-screen smartphones, rather than PCs. The Chinese company knows a thing or two about the PC market, while sales within the industry as a whole have declined, Lenovo has managed to consistently grow and continues to post impressive financial results. More →