Mobile Device Management: Lenovo’s Smartphone Stronghold
Do any of your customers have operations in China? Are you targeting any potential customers who do? Then it may be time to get your mobile device management strategy aligned with some of the trends in that giant and influential country. Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) has just revealed its top five IT predictions for China in 2013, and two of them could impact your mobile device management (MDM) strategy.
Gartner says Lenovo will become the top smartphone vendor in China by 2013. Really? What about Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung? Actually, Lenovo's dominance in smartphones in China is not so surprising when you remember that the company that bought IBM's PC business is based in China. Here's what you need to know about Lenovo and it's smartphone plans.
- Gartner bases its forecast on market share numbers from the third quarter in 2011 to the third quarter in 2012.
- Apple is third in the market, trailing Lenovo with 6.9 percent of the market. And Samsung, with 16.7 percent of the market, is in front.
- Household brand recognition, nationwide distribution, a strong portfolio and reasonable pricing enables Lenovo to compete with global top brands in China.
- The Lenovo brand is positioned at the mid-to-lower end, resulting in much of its future growth.
Gartner predicts that by 2016, shipments of media tablets will match shipments of mobile PCs in China. Media tablets will be in demand by consumers, absolutely, but Gartner also says that many different vertical markets: hospitality, insurance, finance, retail transportation, and education.
- Affordability is a common problem for media tablets, however, according to Gartner, the average price of media tablets in the country will drop from $262 in 2011 to $176 in 2016.
- By 2013, Gartner predicts that media tablets in China will reach 57 million units.
According to a recent IDC report, Lenovo was in the top five for worldwide Android device shipments.
