Smartphones: KSA strategic market for Lenovo

Lenovo has launched its latest smartphone portfolio in the Kingdom, said Oliver Ebel, vice president and general manager of Lenovo in the Middle East and Africa.
“Consumers in Saudi Arabia become the first in the region to get their hands on six new models, including the unique and exclusive Lenovo K900 smartphone,” Ebel said.
Al-Haddad Group is the distributor of Lenovo’s smartphones to independent retailers and will offer the portfolio at its Al-Haddad and Kube across the Kingdom.
Lenovo has also named Jarir Bookstores and Extra as direct partners in Saudi Arabia.
Each Lenovo smartphone is designed with specific customer needs in mind and the portfolio offers a full range of carefully considered design innovations and functionality that fits every style, personality and pocket, he said.
The Lenovo smartphones launched in the Kingdom include the K900 for tech-savvy power users, Lenovo P780 for the professional who demands long lasting battery, USB on-the-go and business applications, the stylish S920 and S820 for heavy multimedia users, and the affordable yet fully loaded A706 and A390.
Ebel said that Lenovo engineers and designers have focused on keeping the new smartphones thin and light without sacrificing performance.
Most of the phones in the portfolio run on quad-core processors, while many of them offer dual-SIM with dual-active capabilities. Lenovo has also introduced design innovations to improve key aspects of the smartphones such as longer battery life, display size and super camera application.
“Innovation is in Lenovo’s DNA; our team strives to deliver ground-breaking devices with distinct, elegant design,” said Ebel.
The launch of Lenovo’s smartphone portfolio marks the first time customers in the region can purchase Lenovo smartphones locally and we are excited to see the market’s reaction,” Ebel said.
He said forecasts for smartphone shipments worldwide will reach 958.8 million units in 2013, topping last year’s total by 32.7 percent. By 2017, 1.5 billion smartphones will be sold globally.
Closer to home and according to a recent survey in the Kingdom, Ebel said, Portio Research says smartphones in the Kingdom will surpasss 40 million by the end of 2013 and will reach 55 million by the end of 2016.
“The UAE and Saudi Arabia are strategic markets for Lenovo where smartphone penetration is the highest in the world,” Ebel said.
“Our goal is to be one of the top five smartphone vendors in both countries in the near future. We believe this is a reality as our product range caters to a wide variety of individual needs and we have partnered with the best in the industry to help us achieve our goal,” said Ebel.
Commenting on Lenovo’s entry to the MEA smartphone market, Gianfranco Lanci, Lenovo EMEA president, said: “Whether smartphones, laptops or tablets, Lenovo designs smart connected devices to enable those who do. Lenovo’s ambition is to lead the PC+ era and today’s launch is further evidence of commitment to our strategy.”
He said smartphones are “fast becoming a primary platform for work, entertainment and social networking for consumers and we’re thrilled to be launching our exciting line-up today in Saudi Arabia, the second wave of Lenovo’s smartphone expansion in EMEA after Russia last year.”