Lenovo reorganizes to better tackle VR and other emerging tech

Customers buy computers at a store of Lenovo in Shanghai. [Photo/IC]

Lenovo Group Ltd said on Friday it will restructure its business units to stay competitive in the global information technology market.

The current PC Group will undertake a significant realignment, becoming Lenovo's PC & Smart Device Business Group, responsible for delivering PCs, detachables, tablets, phablets, gaming and smart home products, according to the company. Sources told China Daily the new unit will also be in charge of the development of augmented reality and virtual reality products.

It was a unique approach because the major AR/VR technology developers are smartphone makers like HTC Corp, Internet companies such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc and software giants including Microsoft Corp.

The PC group will be led by Gianfranco Lanci, president and chief operating officer of Lenovo.

Lenovo's Mobile Business Group will only be responsible for smartphones. The Chinese company is facing difficulties from stiff competition in this field from other brands such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Xiaomi Corp in China.

Chen Xudong, who led Lenovo's global mobile business, will only focus on the Chinese market where Lenovo has lost ground to local competitors.

The changes will be effective on April 1, the beginning of Lenovo's new fiscal year.

Lenovo was the world's fourth-largest handset vendor by shipment in 2015, according to research firm IDC. It shipped a little more than 20 million smartphones globally in the fourth quarter of last year, lagging behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Apple Inc and Huawei.

The other two groups, which handle cloud computing and incubator markets, also face minor changes.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo, said in a statement the world's largest personal computer maker needs to reorganize to drive innovation.

"The changes announced will build on our successes, rapidly deliver this transformation and ultimately drive Lenovo into a new phase of growth," said Yang.

Lenovo reformed its business units a year ago, aiming to boost sales of smartphones, for-enterprise products and cloud services.

The company said in February its net profit for the quarter ended on Dec 31 stood at $300 million, up by 19 percent year-on-year.