Lenovo, a look at the history of this Chinese giant

Lenovo, a look at the history of this Chinese giant

In 1984 Lenovo began to take shape as a company in Beijing. Behind its creation was a group of eleven engineers led by Liu Chuanzi. Everyone wanted to make it one of the largest computer manufacturers in the world. And it seems that they ended up succeeding. To this day, Lenovo remains the largest PC manufacturer in the world. But the truth is that not everything has been a bed of roses. The company has gone through several benchmark crises. In one of them it was separated into two entities: Lenovo and Digital China Holdings Limited. In this way, the Chinese giant became the manufacturer of personal computers and Digital China a distributor of IT products and services.

During its history, Lenovo has also been worthy of several important milestones. One of them was the purchase of IBM's PC division in 2005. This decision made it the largest international computer manufacturer in the world. To take over the blue giant, Lenovo paid more than 1.2 billion euros to IBM. Specifically about 650 million in cash and 600 in shares. As a result of this acquisition, the Asian company obtained the rights to the product lines, in addition to different prestigious trademarks. Among them ThinkVision, ThinkPad, ThinkVantage, ThinkCentre, NetVista and Aptiva.

Another of his great moments was when he acquired Motorola's mobile division in 2014 . And the fact is that the firm not only settled for the computer business, it also wanted to go deeper into the telephony business. Motorola, therefore, was the perfect choice. A company for sale and with a catalog of mid-range mobiles highly acclaimed by a vast majority of users around the world.

Lenovo history

Today Lenovo does not have it too easy. The PC business is plummeting and the telephony business is very complicated. However, the Chinese giant remains at the foot of the canyon proving that it is a tough nut to crack.

The beginnings

In 1984, and with only $ 25,000 in funding from the Chinese government, a small group of Pekingese scientists founded a company called New Technology Developer Inc. Basically the embryo of what would later become Legend and later Lenovo. Do not imagine that all this happened in a large office. It took place in a ramshackle 20-square-meter bungalow. A small place, although with great ambitions. It should be noted that Lenovo is an acronym for "Le" (legend) and "novo" (pseudo-Latin "new"). In other words, "New Legend".

From its humble beginnings, Lenovo has been drawing impressive graphics in the personal computer market. Under its previous name, Legend, it achieved the largest share in the Chinese market in 1996 and in the Asia-Pacific region in 1999, three years later. But, when did Legend become Lenovo and why? The decision to change the name of its PC brand to Lenovo occurred in 2003. It was made practically in an attempt to boost its sales abroad. This event marked the beginning of his rise globally.

Lenovo IBM

Additionally, this move was followed by a successful bid in 2004 to become the exclusive computer technology provider . For both the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Lenovo was crowned the first Chinese firm to become a major Olympic sponsor.

Lenovo looks at IBM

And not only is it fixed, but it finally takes over the company's personal computer manufacturing business in 2005. For this Lenovo had to pay out the amount of just over 1,200 million euros. At that time, IBM was considered the third largest PC manufacturer in the world, competing side by side with HP or Dell. Due to this purchase, the Chinese giant obtained the rights to the product lines. He also managed to slip some of the different IBM trademarks into his pocket. Some of them as prestigious as ThinkVision, ThinkPad, ThinkVantage, or ThinkCentre.

Lenovo buys IBM

The truth is that acquiring this division of IBM was a very wise decision. Despite the PC crisis, Lenovo continues to be the manufacturer that sells the most personal computers in the world. Also in Spain. In addition, it is currently the leader in 15 countries in the EMEA region, ranking among the top three in 55 countries. But not only stands out in the PC sector, Lenovo also stands out in the tablet world. Without going any further, for several years, it is the third largest manufacturer. The company has a market share of more than 10 percent. As for the professional sector, Lenovo has been growing little by little ,reaching in these last two years a quota of more than 25 percent. Mainly due to its ThinkPad X1 range or its hyperconverged solutions for data centers.

Another good idea: Motorola

In early 2014, Lenovo surprised with another very clever move. Through its blog, Google made official the sale of Motorola Mobility to the Chinese giant for almost 3 billion dollars. Google acquired Motorola primarily to strengthen its patent portfolio. The truth is that despite the agreement with Lenovo they kept most of them, in an attempt to continue defending their Android platform.

lenovo Motorola

Lenovo has built a solid and strong brand that will soon return to its original name. Lenovo will put aside the Moto name to go back to Motorola again. As if this were not enough, in recent months they have also redesigned the logo slightly. Now it looks very similar to the original, although with a slightly different typeface and an orange background color. Despite the fact that the Asian firm wanted to distance itself a bit from Motorola, it makes use of it again. And now you can go to your store to ask for your phone under the usual name.

After so many years on our feet, we cannot deny that Lenovo is not doing badly at all. It continues to be a leader in the PC market worldwide. Motorola continues to be a solid brand in the smartphone industry. In addition, it also continues to achieve success in other fields, such as the professional. Of course, the competition is complicated and tough and we do not know what the company will hold in a few years. In any case, he continues to write his story and that today and after so many years is, without a doubt, admirable.