International brand debut for mainland computer maker walks fine line between 'value for money' and 'cheap and nasty'
The first thing you notice about the Lenovo 3000 line of computers - the mainland company's first foray into the international market and a major milestone as it attempts to build global brand recognition - is the price: just US$350 for a desktop and US$600 for a laptop.
It is a curious move. China is not known for its brands. In places such as Europe and the United States, the mainland's reputation is mainly as the world's low-cost producer, an economy where companies compete not on technology or innovation but on price.
Why then would Lenovo price the 3000 line so cheaply? For a Chinese company trying to build an identity separate from IBM, whose PC business it bought for US$1.75 billion last year, debuting with a low-priced offering would seem risky.
'They really do need to be careful if they are trying to use price as an angle, especially if it is the first thing out of the barn and the first thing people hear is, 'Hey, cheap products',' IDC analyst Bryan Ma said.
'One of the perceptions of China - which may or may not be true - and one of the perceptions of Chinese vendors is that they tend to participate in low cost, and low cost tends to be associated with low quality, and that is not the image that they would want to be projecting.'
But while many PC buyers might see US$600 as cheap, chief marketing officer Deepak Advani prefers to think of it as value for money.
