China's Lenovo ties up with Alibaba, Intel on PC products for SMEs

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's top PC manufacturer Lenovo Group said it has partnered with Intel Corp and Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba.com to provide PCs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In a statement on the company's web site, Lenovo said the tieup with Intel and Alibaba will further extend Lenovo's business line and expand its SME offerings.

According to the statement, Alibaba will embed its new E-commerce platform into the PCs, while Intel will provide support on Internet security and services based on its chip platform. The first batch of SME PCs produced by Lenovo will be released in September.

Lenovo Online: Dipping a Toe in the Water

Beginning January 9, Lenovo (0992.HK) has begun making a group-purchase model available to small- and mid-range enterprise Alibaba members. The program is available in 14 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong.

The move has once again aroused speculation as to Lenovo’s strategy for B2B and B2C online sales, but a source at the company says that the group-purchase program is a limited-time offer that will end January 31. “Lenovo is not currently seeking online distributors,” the source said.

Lenovo, the top brand in China’s PC market, doesn’t really need an online distributor. Theirs is a strong brand name and is known to just about everyone in China that has considered, looked at, or even used a computer in China. Alibaba has a much-coveted list of small and medium (SMB or SME) companies in China, but that’s not what interests Lenovo. Alibaba has built an online sales infrastructure that Lenovo lacks. With a limited sales program via Alibaba Lenovo can assess the utlity of online sales without building an online store.

Whenever Lenovo is ready to sell online, they can just do it themselves.