Lenovo to launch 50 products in consumer segment this year

Bullish on the consumer segment, Chinese computer giant Lenovo today said it will launch 50 new products this year to strengthen its product portfolio.     

"India is a very important market for us and we will launch a series of products in the market here... The conusmer segment has seen a strong demand and we will launch 50 products in this segment this year," Lenovo India Managing Director Amar Babu told reporters here.     

Lenovo today launched seven new notebooks and netbooks in the Indian market in the price range of Rs 22,500 - Rs 1.04 lakh as a part of the consumer segment, which comprises about 40 per cent of the Indian revenues. The company sells about 150,000 units quarterly.     

"The notebooks would currently be imported, but as the demand increases, we can look at production here," Babu said.     

The company has a manufacturing facility in Pondicherry with a capacity of three million units annually.     

According to IDC's report on PC shipment for the January-March 2009 period, Lenovo's market share came down to 4.7 per cent in the said period from 6.6 per cent in Q4 in 2008.     

"This was a result of the slowdown in PC shipments in general as well as enterprise purchases being slow. But, over the next quarters we expect the demand to rise on the back of government buying and also a strong demand from the consumer segment," Babu said.