Cutdown version of Ideapad U1 - LePad

Apparently, Lenovo is going to release the LePad (which is a U1 without the keyboard dock system) soon.

It will be interesting to see how it compares with the rest of tablet offerings from competing manufacturers and more importantly Apple's market conquering iPad. The race is on and the winners is still iPad, the other competitors can only fight for the leftovers (so to speak).

My prediction is that it probably won't be a huge seller for the fact that there seems nothing special about this product that sets it apart (obviously they can make it cheap). If the LePad can be docked with a keyboard system like that of the ideapad U1 was originally designed, then there may still be hope against the other competitors.

I think in some way Lenovo knows this and that is why it is going to release it in China first, which gives Lenovo the home grown advantage and if it fails to make a dent in the Chinese market, they can always pull the product.
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My take on the reasons why Lenovo did not introduce the U1 product to the wider global markets are:

1. It was too expensive, which limited the appeal to the wider consumer market, whom maybe quite price conscious with a novel product like the U1. After all it was a laptop and a tablet AIO.

2. The market research that Lenovo have conducted (hopefully they did) indicated that the value proposition of the product is not clear to the wider consumer audience.

3. People were seeing U1 as a tablet, rather than a laptop that can double as tablet.

 

I personally didn't like the idea of a detachable screen running a separate OS. With the added cost of the unit I could see why it wasn't popular. I'd be afraid to lose it personally. I'd rather have a slate like device, or a traditional tablet, not both in one.

 

maybe U1 was too ahead of its time? But if Lenovo releases the same tablet as other manufacturers then it would be against some heavy competitions and price war would ensue.

I was hoping that the U1 could be customised to either include the bottom dock during the purchase process, so for those customers whom want the full package they can have it, while not penalizing customers whom are only interested in the tablet only machines. So best of both world.

If LePad don't offer the docking keyboard part or option for it, then there is really nothing really special about the LePad, since the competitors could make similar things. I guess the current financial crisis don't really help manufacturers that are overtly creative in their product design, since customers are really tight on their non-essential purchases.

 

A price war would be good for consumers though, don't you think? And about a docking station, I know the HP Slate includes one, which offers two USB ports and HDMI, which is nice I think. But at $799 it's too rich for my blood, for what you get.

 

for the price of HP slate, i could get a laptop or a second hand tablet laptop. I think the HP slate will be a flop at this price.

Price war is good for the consumers in the short run, but it does limit profit and therefore future R&D, the only thing we (as in brand loyal customers) get out of it in the long run, are cheapo me-too products.

Since, i already got an iPad, i was hoping that Lenovo was going to release something good and make a name for itself. But i guess the severe delay of U1 was probably already hinting at its demise.

 

Here's an interesting article I read just earlier today which I think is relevant to the topic.

DailyTech - Goldman Sachs Says Intel, Microsoft Blew it With Laggard Tablet Response

 

I think Goldman Sachs is correct in that Microsoft did lag the market as compared to iPad and Android powered tablets.

However, it forgets that Microsoft have never offered OS for free and its main revenue was never from advertising. So if Microsoft was to be a serious contender in this market, it has to offer its OS for free and shift its revenue model towards advertising (which is what Microsoft is doing on Bing and MSN, etc). To make a such large strategic shift is not easy for a large company, as there are lots of risks involved, so everything most be carefully thought through, which takes time.

Future of Microsoft is clouds based apps, so if Microsoft can push through more methods (and in good time) of using such platforms for enterprise and end consumer, then more likely it will get ahead in capturing lion share of software market.

As for intel, it is probably a good thing that it alone does not control the entire CPU market, otherwise there would be too little competition, which is not good for product developments or end consumers like us. Some competitions are needed to keep every manufacturer moving in R&D and in price competitiveness.

 

The new class of devices calls for fresh thinking, in general, and different kinds of processor and operating system, in particular. Windows cannot "scale down" to devices that involve different activities and interactions. Similarly, one does not run Office apps on a tablet - the silly ribbons would take up over half of the screen real-estate!

Apple has separate teams designing Macs and the likes of iPhone and iPad. The iPad is not a "scaled down" version of the Mac. Back then, the Mac itself refused to be a "scaled down" version of the Lisa. Google's Android has no status quo to worry about.

I don't see Intel and Microsoft as leaders in the market of non-traditional computing devices. And Lenovo? As box builder, Lenovo should stick to "personal computers", and improve what it has been doing.

History repeats. Years ago, Microsoft broke from IBM during the cooperative development project that was OS/2. IBM wanted forward and backward compatibility within its "family" of wide-ranging products, so it added all sorts of features into OS/2 even when code was being written for the poor thing. Microsoft, on the other hand, just wanted a small OS for small computers.

Sometimes, the "behind" of the cash cow becomes a hindrance.

 

If everyone is rushing into tablet market I doubt lenovo would stay idle. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many computer companies. Obviously most of these tablet would be just me too products.