Lenovo Mobile aiming for 5% of PHL smartphone market

Lenovo Mobile is hoping to grab a five-percent share of the local smartphone market with the launch of two new models Tuesday. Dillon Ye, the company's executive director for rest of world business operations, told reporters that the company is bullish about the prospects of its business operations in the Philippines. “With the strong acceptance of the market with our previous smartphone models, we have gained confidence that our new models will further propel Lenovo as a highly competitive smartphone manufacturer,” Ye said. Ye said Lenovo has slowly gained a foothold in the Philippine mobile market, backed by its exclusive partnership with Open Communications, a member of the Tao Group of Companies. “We hope to end the year with a five-percent market share from the current level of less than one percent,” said Open Communications business unit head John Rojo. The two new models launched by Lenovo Mobile, the A60+ (P4,999) and the stylish S880 (P14,999), will be commercially available by the middle of September. The company first introduced smartphones in the Philippines in April. Lenovo also recently launched the A65, a 3.5-inch entry-level Android phone (P5,499) and the P700, an Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Android with a four-inch screen and a 2500-mAh battery (P10,999). Rojo said the company intends to introduce middle- to high-end phones in the Philippine market between now and the end of the year. A report from Sino Market Research Ltd. showed that Lenovo’s integrated phone and smartphone segment is at second place in China’s competitive mobile phone market. In the total mobile phone market, Lenovo manager for overseas department Xin Jun said the company’s market share increased by 1.2 percent to 11 percent of the total Chinese market in May, improving its ranking from third to second place. In the smartphone market, Lenovo's market share increased by 2.5 percent to 13.1 percent in May. This jump took the company closer to top-ranking Samsung, with just a difference of 2.4 percentage points. — BM, GMA News