I simply completed off my first and final airline journey of the yr which was to Qualcomm’s annual analyst occasion which was in Hawaii this yr. Lenovo continues to impress me by placing within the effort to be on the middle of occasions from each one in all their main companions they usually did it once more at this occasion. Whereas many of the OEMs, together with Microsoft, with their spectacular Floor effort, typically speak about taking up Apple, few have the breadth to take action regardless that Qualcomm has offered them with a viable technical platform of their coming Snapdragon 8 choices, that—on paper—far outstrip what Apple has, to take action.
Lenovo is the exception as they’re the one competitor with each a excessive stage of design focus and the potential means to counter Apple’s core power with relies on their smartphones, not their PCs. And, Motorola, with their outdated Razr line, as soon as dominated that house and nonetheless has the potential to take action once more.
Let’s discover Apple’s potential publicity and what the partnership between Lenovo and Qualcomm can do to use it.
Apple’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Apple has by no means actually been a expertise chief however, underneath Steve Jobs they had been unmatched in advertising and proved that, when executed proper, advertising might greater than overcome a expertise weak spot. Their preliminary iPhone took a design primarily based on the outdated LG Prada, which didn’t promote properly in any respect, and turned it right into a market killer by convincing the distributors that led the market at the moment to chase them. The technique isn’t too dissimilar to what Tesla, underneath Musk, is doing to the automotive market and it was good.
However Jobs is gone, the advertising engine they as soon as had seems to have been dismantled, they usually haven’t had a real breakthrough product since then—regardless that the Apple Watch on spec might have been. As a facet remark it’s fascinating to me that the Apple Watch, by way of expertise, is a much more aggressive product than the primary iPhones had been however an absence of selling and interoperability crippled it—showcasing Jobs’ brilliance and a lesson Tim Cook dinner clearly didn’t study.
Apple’s advertising power discount isn’t the agency’s solely weak spot—it has three others. One is an virtually rabid deal with margins which is inflicting their choices to degrade competitively over time whereas changing into dearer, their lock-in technique which creates an inner perception that they will milk their prospects for cash whereas lowering the standard of their choices, and an incapability to successfully promote to companies as a result of they each lack that talent set, and that revenue focus prevents a viable resolution for that section.
Exploiting Apple’s Weak spot
Lenovo’s technique seems to be centered largely on Apple’s weak spot in enterprise as a result of that would be the space the place Apple may have the best problem in responding. What the enterprise market needs is a extremely constant providing that covers PCs, tablets, and smartphones. And whereas most of the OEMs can do PCs and tablets, smartphones have, thus far, been a bridge too far, and, sadly, smartphones are a vital ingredient of that effort.
With Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8, Lenovo can create a full {hardware} mix with frequent safety and administration throughout all 3 classes. Their designs are aggressive in look to Apple’s and their Suppose model is much stronger, notably in giant enterprises and authorities than Apple’s. As well as, Lenovo is the one firm that not solely has their very own manufacturing however bridges the US and China the 2 largest markets making it probably they will do a greater job coping with the present logistics nightmare than any firm, together with Apple. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8, on paper (nobody has examined a delivery product but) seems to be between 1 and three generations forward of the place Apple is by way of AI capabilities (Siri has largely sucked anyway), photographic functionality (that exceeds that of a DSLR), safety, sound high quality, gaming (possibly 5 generations on this class), battery life, and graphics efficiency. Even with these benefits, due to Apple’s huge margins, Lenovo’s telephones must be inexpensive as properly.
The consequence must be a compelling different to Apple that higher meets each enterprise and, with Google’s assist, private wants out there and for the primary time creating a real different to Apple within the section the place Apple is weakest.
Wrapping Up
Now there’s one space the place this effort might fail and that’s in advertising. Apple maintains, for now, a particularly loyal buyer base they usually have made swap out of their merchandise troublesome. Apple has showcased methods to repair this drawback with their preliminary iPhone effort which did the identical factor to Palm, Blackberry, Nokia, and Microsoft that Lenovo is planning on doing to Apple. Samsung successfully demonstrated once they ran a too quick marketing campaign showcasing that almost all Apple patrons had been outdated those who Apple is weak to this type of assault however neither Lenovo nor Qualcomm have ever marketed at this vital stage. Nevertheless, the enterprise market could not want that stage of selling provided that market is much extra pragmatic of their method in contrast to the buyer market. However, if this effort fails, I anticipate it gained’t be because of the product however because of an unwillingness to fund a marketing campaign able to permitting this effort to succeed in its full aggressive potential.
In any case, subsequent yr, as soon as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Lenovo merchandise ship must be fascinating to look at. Let the video games start!
As President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, Rob offers regional and world firms with steering in methods to create credible dialogue with the market, goal buyer wants, create new enterprise alternatives, anticipate expertise modifications, choose distributors and merchandise, and observe zero greenback advertising. For over 20 years Rob has labored for and with firms like Microsoft, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, USAA, Texas Devices, AMD, Intel, Credit score Suisse First Boston, ROLM, and Siemens.
