Lenovo product prez shrugs off the Microsoft Surface threat

Microsoft’s Surface tablet has been a contentious subject for many PC makers, but don’t count Lenovo as one of them.

“Surface is a tablet, but it’s purely a tablet. Our products are very distinguishable, so I don’t see that there’s any conflict there at all,” Lenovo product president Peter Hortensius told VentureBeat during the launch of Lenovo’s newest convertible Ultrabooks.

“Customers will gravitate to whichever devices they think make the most sense for them,” he said.

Whether consumers will flock to the Surface over Lenovo’s convertibles remains to be seen, but we’ll find out soon enough: The Surface, IdeaPad Yoga 13, and ThinkPad Twist all launch on October 26.

How does Lenovo plan to set its devices apart? By focusing on their biggest feature — flexibility.

All of Lenovo’s new devices can transition from “lean-back” tablets to “lean forward” laptops in a matter of seconds. Why’s that a big deal?  Hortensius points to typing.

“When people use tablets, they inevitably have to type something. And they end up typing on glass, and it’s not the best experience,” he said. That’s where the keyboards on devices like the Yoga and Twist step in.

Besides Surface, the other big question for Lenovo nowadays is what factors are going to help it top HP in the consumer PC market. It seems inevitable, but will devices like the IdeaPad Yoga finally do the trick?

“We think it’s the breadth of the portfolio that’s really going to do it. The market is so big that it’s hard to see one product pushing us over,” Hortensius said.

“From my perspective, if we keep making good products that solve real problems, the marketshare part will take care of itself,” he added.