Lenovo's LePad seen as strong challenger to iPad on mainland

More than a year after introducing its media tablet at a United States trade show, mainland computer giant Lenovo Group is expected to mount a strong challenge to Apple's iPad and others in the domestic market when its LePad slate device finally goes on sale this first quarter.

Analysts said Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest supplier of personal computers, had a presence on the mainland that other media tablet providers could not match, despite the long delay in releasing the LePad.

'Lenovo was no later than others in jumping onto the tablet bandwagon to catch up with Apple,' Michael Clendenin, the managing director at Shanghai-based research firm RedTech Advisors, said. 'In China, Lenovo's strong distribution and branding will give it a slight advantage.'

Sun Peilin, of market research firm Analysys International in Beijing, estimated the growing number of media tablet models on the mainland would help drive domestic sales to 4.5 million units this year from about 600,000 units last year.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, Lenovo announced the release of the 10.1-inch touch-screen LePad on the mainland. Prices start at 3,499 yuan (HK$4,100) for the device, which runs on the Google-developed Android operating system.

Buyers can combine the media tablet with a keyboard-equipped dock, which turns it into the display on the IdeaPad U1 laptop computer. Prices for this hybrid product, which runs Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, start at 8,888 yuan.