Lenovo picks PH as pilot market for smart phones

The Philippines has been chosen as one of the pilot markets for the launch of Chinese tech giant Lenovo’s new line of smart phones.

Lenovo, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of personal computers, noted the Philippines’ status as the fastest growing smart phone market in Southeast Asia, given the tech-savvy population’s huge appetite for new gadgets.

“We believe Lenovo Mobile is perfectly situated to take advantage of the explosive growth in the smart phone business because we offer best-in-value devices to our target consumers,” Lenovo Mobile open communications business unit head John Rojo said in a statement.

“Our focus is on the greater majority of consumers who also desire and deserve a smart phone device that is both affordable and reliable in order to assist them in running the daily business of their lives,” he said.

Singapore-based research company GfK Asia said smart phones currently make up nearly 30 percent of all mobile phones purchased in the Philippines. Total value of units sold in the first quarter of 2012 reached $225 million, up 400 percent from last year.

This led to the country being chosen as one of five pilot markets outside China where the new Lenovo phones are to be made available. The other pilot markets are India, Indonesia, Russia and Vietnam.

The first of the company’s new line of mobile phones running on Google’s Android operating system will hit stores in the Philippines this month. Paolo G. Montecillo