The phrase “a war with iPhone” slipped from the mouth of Lenovo’s chairman, Liu Chuanzhi, when the Chinese electronics company launched its smartphone handset – the LePhone – last year. With the recent launch of its first tablet – the LePad – the company hopes to take on Apple again, albeit only in the Chinese market.
In a sector so dominated by the iPad, which takes 80 per cent of the global market, it’s tempting to dismiss any new potentials ‘iPad Killers’. But it’s safe to say that in China’s domestic market, the LePad represents a plausible rival.
Last year only 600,000 tablet devices were sold in China. That could grow by 300 per cent this year to 2.5 million, according to IDC, the technology research company.