ZHUHAI: Lenovo Group said it would actively endorse Microsoft's new operating system Windows Vista and Intel's four-core microprocessors and that the two products would significantly boost its sales of desktop computers.

The company will sell its products with the new software and microprocessor installed, said Xia Li, vice-president of the world's third-largest computer maker and general manager of product sales and marketing in the Greater China region.

"Windows Vista and four-core Core Duo 2 have been something the industry has expected, and for us they will also be a significant boost," said Xia yesterday in Zhuhai.

The Chinese firm yesterday released its results for the second financial quarter ending September 30. Its desktop computer sales grew by 4 per cent year-on-year boosted by strong consumer computer sales.

In the quarter, Lenovo's market share in China rose to a record high 36.5 per cent, increasing 2 percentage points year-on-year.

Although the contribution from desktop computers fell from 45.6 per cent in its first fiscal quarter ending June to 42.4 per cent in the past quarter, Mary Ma, senior vice-president and chief financial officer, said the business made a turnaround to profitability from the previous quarter.

"This shows we have plenty of room for improvement in profitability in the desktop business," she said.

According to market intelligence firm Analysys International, the shipment of desktop computers rose by 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 4.36 million units, driven by the consumer segment, which had a growth rate of 25 per cent.

Xia said all Lenovo desktop computers are now compatible with Windows Vista, which the US software giant says is an epoch-making product. From January, all Lenovo products will have a pre-installed Vista operating system.

Lenovo is still negotiating with Microsoft as to how to upgrade the current Windows XP operating systems on users' computers, but Xia said the upgrade service would be free to its users, with Lenovo bearing the cost.

Intel is expected to release its latest four-core processors next Tuesday (November 14) in China. Lenovo, which formerly got more than 80 per cent of its processors from Intel's arch-rival AMD, will also actively deploy the new Intel product, which is a lot faster than current processors.

In addition to leveraging the strength of global giants like Microsoft and Intel, the Chinese computer maker also launched its Lenovo Vantage Technology, which offers functions like intelligent broadband network management, ease of operation like that of a TV set, and system recovery.

Liu Jie, sales and marketing general manager for consumer desktop products with Lenovo, said it would install the software onto all consumer desktops.

"The driver of the industry will shift from clock speed to Internet, so Lenovo Vantage Technology will greatly increase the security, user experience and applications for consumers," said Xia.

Xia said the growing popularity of notebook computers would not see shipments of desktop computers shrink because of the demand for high-quality entertainment.

In rural markets with less than 300,000 people, which see faster growth, education is the major reason for people to buy a computer and those users have little computer knowledge, Xia said, adding that Lenovo's focus is on education and quality.

From April to September, Lenovo's shipment growth was 42 per cent twice the average of the market, according to research firm IDC.

Source: China Daily