Lenovo offers separate tablets for consumers & businesses

Just a week after the release of the Motorola Xoom, the New Zealand tablet market is to become even more crowded, with Chinese manufacturer Lenovo has accounced it will launch two new tablets here next month, with pricing that more closely matches that of the dominant iPad.

Lenovo will offer its IdeaPad Tablet K1 for consumers and its ThinkPad Tablet for business customers, in the hope of wrestling market share from Apple by offering more targeted technology.

Alan Munro, vice president and managing director for Lenovo ANZ, says Lenovo doesn't believe in a one-size-fits-all device.

 "Lenovo is committed to developing tailored solutions that can be configured to users' needs," Munro says.

"We've created a family of tablets that have something for everyone, from entertainment-friendly features for consumers, to business-friendly features to enhance productivity and maximise security and manageability for professionals.

Although cheaper than the $1149 Xoom, the Lenovo tablets are still pricier than the $799 iPad 2. Lenovo says 16GB wi-fi versions of the IdeaPad K1 to be available for $779 and the ThinkPad for $819, although with GST included the prices will be closer to $895.85 and $941.85 respectively.

Lenovo will be taking orders for the tablets from next month.

Both tablets run on Google's Android 3.1 platform and use NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processors.

Go here to read our story on the Xoom.