Lenovo Jumps into Tablet Market: 10 Features They Need to Succeed

Lenovo is the latest company to jump into the tablet fray with its ThinkPad and IdeaPad K1 tablets. The company also unveiled its P1 Windows 7-based tablet, but this column will only focus on the prospects for the Android models.
At first glance, the ThinkPad and K1 are quite similar, offering 10.1-inch screens, Android 3.1 and the 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2processor. However, the ThinkPad option is designed for enterprise users, while the K1 is made for consumers.
By joining the tablet space, Lenovo is now going up against Apple and the countless number of Android tablet makers out there. Now Lenovo, like all the others that came before it, will need to find a way to differentiate its products and appeal to customers who might not want to buy an iPad.
Admittedly, doing so is difficult in today’s crowded tablet space. The chances of Lenovo overcoming even the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to earn the second spot in the tablet space behind the iPad 2 are slim. But it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. With the right strategy and a few tweaks, Lenovo’s tablets have a chance at becoming a success.
Read on to find out what Lenovo should do to make its K1 and ThinkPad tablets successful.
1. Focus on the screen size
One of the major advantages of Lenovo’s tablets is their screen size. According to the company, both the ThinkPad tablet and the K1 offer 10.1-inch screens. The iPad 2, on the other hand, comes with just a 9.7-inch display. The difference might not be great, but in both the consumer and enterprise markets, larger screens are preferred. Lenovo must keep that in mind and make that a key component in its marketing.
2. Android 3.1 is integral to success
If Lenovo’s tablets shipped with Android 3.0, they would be failures out of the gate. But by offering Android 3.1, the tablets are on the same level as the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which also runs the operating system. Google’s first foray in the tablet space with Android 3.0 was a bit of a misstep, but most critics agree that version 3.1 is a fine improvement. Lenovo should make it clear to customers that unlike some other Android tablets, its products are running the best version yet of Google’s tablet platform.
3. A clear delineation
By selling two tablets, Lenovo is putting itself in an unenviable position. Rather than simply try to make customers get excited about a single tablet, the hardware maker must try and sell two different products aimed at two separate markets. In order to be successful at that, Lenovo needs to make it abundantly clear to customers that the ThinkPad is for businesses, and the K1 is for consumers. They should also be different enough to convince a tablet buyer that they should buy two tablets, one for their home and another for the office. If they seem too similar, Lenovo’s tablets could have trouble finding a suitable marketplace.
4. Talk about pricing
According to Lenovo, it’s selling the K1 tablet for just $499 for 32GB of storage. Apple’s iPad, on the other hand, retails for $599 for the same amount of storage. The company’s 16GB model goes for $499. That is a major selling point for Lenovo. As the economy still continues to struggle to turn around, consumers looking to get a tablet want the best value for their cash. Making them aware of its K1 pricing might help Lenovo appeal to those customers.

On Twitter

Philosophically there is no more arbitrary milestone then the passage of time, each year we celebrate the passing of another year, see what I mean? That’s why Twitter’s second five-year anniversary milestones of 350 billion tweets delivered and 600K users signing up daily fall little flat (Twitter celebrated its first five year anniversary — commemorating when the first tweets were sent — back in March). The torrent of tech announcement posts about INSERT COMPANY HERE hitting 100K users or downloads or “shares” or tiddlywinks or badges is perpetual enough that all tech news sort of blends into a river of user numbers and APPLE VS. GOOGLE VS. TWITTER. Sigh.

It is amazing to think that Twitter launched publicly five years ago today. When Mike Arrington first wrote, “Odeo releases Twitter” in 2006 he had no idea that one day the TechCrunch Twitter account would be nearing a 2 million-follower distribution channel and that he himself would reach 82K. Very few would have predicted that the SMS notifications system with no vowel in its name would turn into a seven billion dollar company employing 500 people. “If this was a new startup, a one or two person shop, I’d give it a thumbs up for innovation and good execution on a simple but viral idea,” Mike wrote at the time.

Mike’s Twttr launch post is striking in its simplicity, at 327 words it’s sort of like the blogger version of the calm before the storm. The social network (?) microblogging platform(?) new form of mass media (?) has been the subject of incessant free press throughout its upward trajectory.

There was a period of time after its breakout at SXSW 2007 where everywhere you’d look you’d see an “… On Twitter” headline: “Man Proposes To Wife … On Twitter.” “Woman Gives Birth… On Twitter.” “Shaquille O’Neal … On Twitter” “Man Tweets From Space … On Twitter.” “Bronx Zoo Cobra … On Twitter.” At this point it’s news if something doesn’t happen “… On Twitter.”

So why can’t we shut up about it? In a sense Twitter is a mirror for life and human connection. There is a unique feeling one gets watching the flood of tweets from strangers pour in for the #iranelection, #WorldCup, #WWDC or any microhashtag on Twitter. A crucial part of my morning ritual is catching up with news on Twitter watching the quips made by friends pour in on equal footing with commentary made by media luminaries.

Thus I’ve been asking people all morning (on Twitter) about what Twitter, a service built essentially to communicate spurts of human activity, means to them. I’ve gotten back so much information it is tough and kind of meta to process, kind of like Twitter itself.

A sampling of important Twitter moments I’ve heard so far, in more or less chronological order:

When Apple released iTunes podcasting (because it forced Odeo to pivot), March 2006: the first tweet, July 2006: we cover Twttr, Twttr becomes Twitter, March 2007: it’s the breakout hit of SXSW, the fail whale supplants the fail cat, the #hashtag is invented, a plane is Twitpic’d landing in the Hudson river, CNN and Ashton’s race to a million followers, Oprah joins, the co-founders play musical chairs, Twitter buying mobile client Atebits (signaling the end of friendly developer ecosystem relations), #new Twitter, more downtime, the Iran riots, the time Twitter was hacked and so on and so forth.

The most striking thing is that most Twitter users have their own unique list of moments that cemented Twitter’s importance (for those that can tolerate slideshows Business Insider has a really good one here).

If you suspend disbelief on what percentage are spambots, Twitter has 200 million users whose #1 Twitter milestone is “Just setting up my Twttr” or the day they set up and account.

The company hopes by the end of 2013 to have 1 billion users (more than Facebook) in addition to $1.5 billion in revenue and an over 5,000 person staff. Just typing out that sort of ambition is sort of painful when the service still shows me that I’m following people who I’m not and is all over the place with regards to a steady revenue stream. For what it’s worth I’d pay Twitter $10 bucks a month just to archive and thread my DMs.

In fact, I think there’s many that would do the same and today we’re all wishing Silicon Valley’s charismatic but sort of flakey friend a very happy second birthday; Because honestly we’re all rooting for them.

HTC to Appeal U.S. Agency Ruling on Apple Patent Infringements

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- HTC Corp. will appeal a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that it infringed two patents of Apple Inc. in producing Android-based mobile phones.

HTC, Asia’s second-largest maker of smartphones, said it was found to have infringed two of 10 Apple patents originally asserted in the case. Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski’s finding yesterday is subject to review by the full six-member commission in Washington.

HTC will “vigorously fight these two remaining patents through an appeal before the ITC commissioners who make the final decision,” Grace Lei, general counsel for the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company, said in an e-mail. HTC will use “all means possible” to defend itself, it said in a separate statement.

Should the commission uphold the finding, the ITC may ban U.S. imports of some HTC phones that run on Google Inc.’s Android, the most popular smartphone operating system in the U.S. The HTC decision may serve as a barometer for other cases Cupertino, California-based Apple has against makers of Android devices, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

“This isn’t the worst-case scenario for HTC, which was found not to violate the other eight patents,” said Michael On, president of Taipei-based Beyond Asset Management Co., who doesn’t own the company’s shares. “They will probably resolve the issue by paying royalties, which will raise costs.” He declined to disclose the size of his assets.

‘Alternate Solutions’

The ITC is a quasi-judicial arbiter of trade complaints that has become the venue of choice for resolving patent disputes. Nokia Oyj, which had been targeted in the same ITC complaint, reached a settlement with Apple last month. Mountain View, California-based Google wasn’t a party in the case.

An Apple spokeswoman, Kristin Huguet, declined to comment on the HTC findings.

HTC believes it has “alternate solutions” for issues raised by Apple, according to today’s statement. “We look forward to resolving this case.”

HTC shares fell 2.4 percent to close at NT$907 in Taipei trading yesterday before the ruling. The stock has risen 0.8 percent this year, compared with a 4.4 percent decline in the benchmark Taiex index.

One of the patents in the HTC case involved data-detection technology used in e-mail and text messages, while another related to a data-transmission system.

Flyer Tablet

Apple earlier this month accused HTC in a separate complaint of infringing five patents related to software architecture and user interfaces, hardware for touch screens and movement sensors. Apple is seeking to block U.S. imports of the Taiwanese company’s new Flyer tablet computers as well as its Droid Incredible, Wildfire, EVO 4G and Desire phones.

HTC released the Flyer, its first tablet device, in the U.S. in March, competing against Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. The Flyer has a 7-inch screen and uses Android.

Android is the most popular smartphone operating system in the U.S., accounting for 38 percent of the market in the three months ended May, according to Reston, Virginia-based researcher ComScore Inc. Apple’s iOS, used in devices including the iPhone, made up 27 percent of the market.

S3 Graphics Acquired

HTC agreed last week to buy S3 Graphics Co. for $300 million after the maker of video-game graphics chips won an infringement ruling at the trade agency against Apple. HTC also has its own patent complaint against Apple at the commission, with findings scheduled to be released Sept. 16.

HTC and Apple more than doubled revenue from mobile phones from a year earlier in the March quarter as they race to offer their products in more markets around the globe. Apple, once best known for its Mac computers, now relies on its iPhone for about 50 percent of sales and the iPad tablet for 12 percent, according to first-quarter figures compiled by Bloomberg.

The case is In the Matter Of Certain Personal Data and Mobile Communications Devices and Related Software, 337-710, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

--With assistance from Susan Decker in Washington and Adam Satariano in San Francisco. Editors: James Regan, Jim McDonald

LIC Housing Finance plans to launch Rs 500-cr fund in Sept

LIC Housing Finance Ltd plans to launch a Rs 500-crore venture capital (VC) fund for urban infrastructure development by September, according to its director and chief executive officer, V K Sharma.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the company’s property exhibition here today, he said LIC Housing Finance had already started the process for launching the fund. The company is also planning to launch a pure fixed rate housing loan product.


LIC Housing Finance would raise interest rates if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increases its key policy rates. “The increase in interest rates is squeezing our margin. We did not increase the rates when the central bank revised these last time. We are waiting for the RBI guidance and if the rates are increased again, we also have to go for a rate hike,” said Sharma. It had increased its interest rates by 25 basis points twice in the recent past, in March and June, following the interest rate hikes by RBI.

Sharma said there would not be more than two upward revision in interest rates in future. However, he expressed hopes that the rates would come down after that.
The current interest rate of LIC Housing Finance is around 10.15 per cent for loans up to Rs 20 lakh and around 10.75 per cent for loans above that, on floating rate basis.
The company is expecting a net interest margin of 2.7-2.8 per cent this financial year. It has a nine per cent market share in the country’s housing finance business and is expecting a 25 per cent overall growth this financial year. It is also looking at a loan disbursement of Rs 5,500 crore in southern states, compared to Rs 4,125 crore in the previous financial year, according to Sharma

'Carmageddon': LAPD thanks celebrities for Twitter help

The Los Angeles Police Department announced on Friday that more than 30 celebrities responded to the department's call to send out tweets urging resident to avoid the 405 Freeway when it is closed this weekend during "Carmageddon."

The department said in a statement that when added together, the celebrities who participated had more than 100 million followers on the social media service. It's unclear how many of those followers are overlaps, however, and exactly how many people the messages reached.

The 405 Freeway will be closed through the Sepulveda Pass beginning Friday night and through Monday morning because of a widening project that requires the demolition of the Mulholland Bridge.

The LAPD listed some of the memorable celebrity tweets:

--Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) “Stay away from the 405 Fwy the weekend of July 16 & 17, it will be closed btwn the 10 Fwy and 101 Fwy North & South!”

--Rob Corddry (@robcorddry) , “LAPD asked me to warn you to avoid the 405 Fwy July on 16-17. But I'm not going to. Matter of fact, come to my party @ the LAX exit Sat!”

--Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien) t“The LAPD asked me to warn you to avoid the 405 Fwy on July 16 & 17, or else the red light photo of me driving in a satin slip goes viral.”

-- Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) “LAPD askd me 2tweet: 405fwy btwn 10 & 101 will b closed July16-17. In xchange I would like a free pass on that stoplight tickt IT WAS YELLOW.”

-- William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) “LA friends, the 405 closes this weekend in what surely will be Carmageddon Remember also that @TheCaptainsTV airs on @EpixHD on 7/22!”

--Adam Levine @ adamlevine I think I want to throw a tailgate party for Carmageddon. Meet me at the 405 tomorrow. Let's party.

-- KevinSmith @ThatKevinSmithLOS ANGELES! The end is nigh! #Carmageddon is upon us! On Sat/Sunday, avoid the 405 Btw the 10 and 101 like you'd avoid a Kevin Smith film!

--christina applegate @1capplegate Maybe the old dude who predicted end of days meant CARMAGEDDON! And for that I say bravo old crazy guy!

--Ryan Seacrest @RyanSeacrest Wait, what!? There's stuff to do in LA that doesn't require a car? #nobodywalksinla http://on.fb.me/qeAOPF #carmageddon