Portable Bangladesh

In his maiden trip to Bangladesh, Managing Director of Lenovo South Asia Region  Amar Babu sits with Shahriar Rahman from The Daily Star to discuss Lenovo's plans and visions for Bangladesh

DS: Tell us of Lenovo's greatest hits of the first half of 2014?

Last quarter was a fantastic one for us. So was the first quarter of this year. Across all segments we have significantly increased our position. Globally, we ramped up our laptop and tablet business significantly; according to various surveys we are the no. 1 laptop brand worldwide. Although there was a downcast in the PC market, we still have been able to grow faster than the market. Particularly in Bangladesh, the brand presence has increased significantly. Moreover the customers have appreciated the recent product line as evidenced by a steep sale increase in Bangladesh. The enterprise business has been a little slow particularly in South Asian region. But we are seeing remarkable growth in smartphones and tablets.

DS: Lenovo bought Motorola. What does it say for the Bangladeshi market?

Well, right now Motorola does not formally operate any business in Bangladesh; but probably in the near future Motorola will also come to the Bangladeshi market as its still booming. In India, Motorola has shown very positive growth with new products like Moto G and Moto E which are especially designed for this market. The great thing about this deal is that the acquisition allows us to compete in most emerging markets with local players and we are a full-range player – competing even at the entry level. So this acquisition will only add to our strength.

DS: Smartphone sales are overtaking PC/Laptop sales. How do you see that?

You will notice that over the last four-five years, smartphones have proven that they're immensely capable. Through the continuing miniaturization of tech, smartphones are now almost as powerful as a desktop or laptop PC. In a few years, everything you do on your laptop today will be achievable on a smartphone.

This isn't to say that larger general-purpose computers won't live on, though. At least for the foreseeable future, there will be limits to just how much processing power you can squeeze into a smartphone — and there will always be people who need or want faster computers to speed up their workflow.

DS: Tell us about Lenovo's new business strategy 'Protect & Attack’. How good is it working in South Asian market?

As you said worldwide, we follow the strategy: 'protect and attack'. We try to protect our strengths, which are increasing sales in the growing markets i.e Bangladesh and large enterprise business. We attack opportunities. So far this strategy is working great globally and locally. We are becoming a major player in this region. We still are the largest notebook seller worldwide. In the coming years we want to drive the transaction business model in the emerging markets, with focus on the consumer business and SMB (small and medium business).

DS: Why did the tablets of Yoga, A & S series fail to gain traction in Bangladeshi market despite being a global success?

Lenovo sees exponential growth in portable computing devices in Bangladesh. But to be exact, Lenovo tablets were introduced in Bangladeshi market not so long ago. So far the reception is really good. From the response that we register in this market we need to continue to invest in smart connected devices. We are looking at increased marketing and consumer outreach plans. In fact we launched a flagship store of Lenovo as part of the strategy. I believe soon we will be one of the top tablet vendors in Bangladesh.

DS: Finally, what's the future of Lenovo here and worldwide?

There are many exciting stuff from Lenovo in the pipeline. As I already mentioned we acquired a legendary brand in the technology world – Motorola. We will protect the Motorola brand and make it even stronger. When we acquired IBM's PC business in 2005 we had a similar opportunity with ThinkPad and we succeeded. We now have a much broader portfolio across all price points. Lenovo will also use Motorola's strengths in the United States, Europe, Asia and all other emerging markets including Bangladesh to push future growth.