Lenovo Opens Smartphones and Tablets Business Unit

Lenovo Group Ltd. said that it has opened a new business unit tasked with building Internet-based media tablets and smartphones, and a host of devices for emerging market segments such as cloud computing, smart TV and products for the digital home.

The new group, dubbed Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group (MIDH), also will develop services and applications associated with the next generation devices, officials said.

Liu Jun, Lenovo product group president, will take over as president of the MIDH unit and will be based at the company’s headquarters in Beijing, China. He is credited with helping the company enter the consumer market with the launch of its Idea brand, facilitating the ThinkPad Edge line of laptops for small- and medium-sized businesses and developing additional ThinkPad products aimed at enterprise customers.

Lenovo said that Peter Hortensius will advance from head of the company’s Think product group to Jun’s former position and will be based in Raleigh, N.C.

Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo chief executive, said that the MIDH will take advantage of the company’s success in the PC market to build new Internet-focused devices and move into emerging markets.

“Lenovo recognizes the tremendous growth potential of the mobile internet, as well as that of new categories like cloud computing and smart TV, and so we are putting the focus and investments in place to fully capitalize on these opportunities to drive growth in our business today and for many years to come,” said Yuanqing.

“The Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group will help us leverage our leadership in the PC arena to create a rich portfolio of Internet-centric devices,” he said. “At the same time, we’ll use our creativity, innovation and technical prowess to help our customers navigate the future of personal technology worldwide.”

Lenovo said that it already has a leg up in the mobile Internet market, recently offering a combined tablet and laptop called the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid and the LePad tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

In 2010, Lenovo began selling a smartphone in China and demonstrated smart TV and digital home technology at CES, the company said.