Lenovo Turns to Phones as PC Industry Declines
China’s Lenovo Group Ltd. is close to becoming the world’s largest personal-computer maker just as the struggling PC industry is bracing for one of the worst years in its history. For Lenovo, which bought International Business Machines Corp.’s PC business in 2005, the next big challenge is finding a new source of revenue by expanding its smartphone business.
But since Apple Inc. revolutionized mobile computing with the iPhone, no traditional PC maker has been able to thrive by becoming a major competitor in the smartphone market. And cracking the duopoly of Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. will require a huge investment.