Chinese PC maker Lenovo is to switch its attention to selling
low-cost computers to developing countries to boost flagging
revenues.
In January, Lenovo announced it was to
cut 2,500 jobs worldwide due to the global economic
downturn.
Lenovo hopes to save $300m with the job cuts to compensate for
falling PC demand as a result of "unprecedented global economic
challenges", the PC maker said.
Lenovo posted a
$96.7m loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, but former chief
executive Yang Yuanqing has returned to the role he left in 2004
with an aggressive recovery strategy.
Yang, who has been serving as Lenovo chairman, takes over from
William Amelio, who resigned as chief executive after his
three-year term ended. He will stay on as a special adviser until
September.
A key part of Yang's strategy is to deploy a large salesforce to
promote sales of low computers to the retail market in south-east
Asia, India, Poland and Turkey.
According to Yang, it is only these emerging markets that will
be able to give Lenovo the growth it is looking for.
This approach contrasts with the long-term corporate focus of
the IBM PC-making business Lenovo acquired in 2005 $1.25bn.
Analysts predict
sales of PCs across the world are likely to fall this year for
the fist time in almost 10 years with sales for the final months of
2008 plummeting by more than18%.
The Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region has seen a
decline as regions other than Western Europe cut PC spending.
According to IDC, growth in PC sales in EMEA slowed from 20% in
the first nine months of 2008 to 1.8% in the last quarter. Growth
in Western Europe was still positive at 12%, sales dropped by 24%
in Central and Eastern Europe, and remained flat in the Middle East
and Africa.