A recent interview with a Lenovo senior vice president has let loose that the Chinese-owned brand is seriously considering a proper slate tablet for their enterprise customers.
Non-PC devices have been growing in popularity over the past few years in business. Blackberries led the way, iPhones are growing strong, and the iPad kicked off the slate tablet craze. With Cisco’s Cius and Blackberry’s PlayBook leading the charge in enterprise tablets, the possibility is there for Lenovo to join the fray.
Of course, they are understandably cautious and will be watching the market (e.g. Cisco, Blackberry & Apple). The good news is that such a product would be a Think-branded product and offer the utility that comes with the name. Proper features and input capabilities would be a must, along with all-day battery life.
Source: [PC World]
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Not with that HP/Dell-inspired smooth-as-glass keyboard, I hope.
I would think a ThinkSlate would have an optional attachable keyboard, and Lenovo would make a point of engineering the highest quality options for those who desire same, like the Thinkpad UltraNav Travel Keyboard, but with an actual working trackpoint.
Apparently, Lenovo’s marketing team really doesn’t care about the business concept of Thinkpads anymore.
Apart from the fact that the Thinkpad keyboard is the backbone of that business line (and the recent update actually made it worse), I can’t help but to think that Lenovo’s rather thinking of selling a low-performance gadget à la iPad under the Thinkpad-brand. Otherwise, I see no reason why they shouldn’t stick to their x-Tablet model and work on thickness. After all, you can flip the screen around and et voilà, there’s your “ThinkSlate”.
Based on the success of the iPad I can see a market for the non “IOS or Droid” device to be successful as well. The need in a business environment that needs to be able to manage a mobile device and be able to encrypt it is huge and a major concern. The use of an iPad in an environment like a hospital is an issue with durability and the ability to manage the device in a large domain. Hopefully Lenovo will keep all of the technology and quality of the ThinkPad-brand alive and active in the slate device with all of the functionality of the X series tablets. Some options that need to be there, Multi-Touch, Keyboard options, cleanable, and durable. They may not be fastest to the market but once there the products are usually solid.
联想加油,THINK 加油
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