Lenovo campaign for the Olympics

Beijing

September 3rd, 2007

As the Olympic fever starts building up in China, the biggest event sponsor
Lenovo organized a major campaign to mark the one-year-out for the Beijing 2008
Olympics, that start in August next year. Though no specific spending figure on
the Games has been revealed, Lenovo marketing managers say that they will deploy
over 20,000 pieces of IT equipment including desktops, notebooks, servers, and
printers for the games, preparations for which started two years ago. Lenovo is
looking at this as the biggest opportunity to turn its image from a Chinese
company to a global PC player. Members of international media caught up with
Lenovo group chairman Yang Yanquing, who shared his views on a range of issues
with Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor for CyberMedia India Ltd.

Lenovo is the global IT partner for one of the world's most prestigious
sporting event, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. How does it feel?

Sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics has started to pay off. It is helping us
build our brand internationally, a key business objective for Lenovo.

Would you want to sponsor the next Olympics too?

We will be assessing the situation before taking any decision. I cannot
answer the question now.

If you have to build a global brand, would Lenovo be looking at regional
games such as the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi?

Yes, we will consider them too.

What new technologies are you planning to implement at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics?

The organizing committee is very careful about latest technologies. Rather,
they want tried and tested stable technologies.

How many machines will you be deploying at the Olympic games?

We will have 20,000 pieces of equipment from Lenovo for managing the games.
These include 12,000 desktops, 6,000 notebooks, servers and printers. Both
Windows XP and Vista will be used.

What would you be watching at the Olympics?

I like to watch tennis, and basketball.

How is the progress of the Lenovo acquisition of IBM PC business?

We have very successfully completed our integration of the IBM PC business.
I am proud to say that from a US $3 billion local Chinese PC company we have now
become a 15 billion global giant.

Besides PCs and notebooks, Lenovo is the mobile phone market leader among
domestic companies, in China. Are you planning to take your mobile phone to very
hot and rapidly growing markets like India?

Our global focus is on the PC and notebooks business. There is a lot to do
there. Mobile handset focus is on China right now.

Lenovo wants to think differently and innovate. Low cost PCs is one
initiative that has just not taken off. What is your view on it?

We launched a sub-$400 low cost PC in China three years ago. Recently we
have again announced a $199 PC for the rural and village markets. We could
consider it for India as well as other emerging markets too.

What would be the key markets that Lenovo would like to aggressively go
after, over the next three to five years?

I think we would like to expand in high value relationship business with
large customers, as well as have very good offering for transaction-based
consumers. In terms of markets, the focus will be on US, Western Europe, Japan,
and also emerging economies including the BRIC countries.

How do you think consumer markets will be addressed?

We want to win consumers by having a business model with which we can offer
them competitive products, and great experience.

What are the cultural changes you want to bring about in Lenovo after the
acquisition? Will it be the IBM culture or Lenovo culture?

We believe in trust, respect, and compromise. And we are building these
values uniformly across the organization. This will be the new culture. It does
not matter if it's IBM culture or Lenovo culture. The new culture should help us
enhance efficiency, and manage change quickly.

(The author was hosted in Beijing by Lenovo)