Lenovo's Response To Microsoft's Laptop Move: Surface Who?

While Dell and Hewlett-Packard praised Microsoft's surprise entrance into the laptop market, Lenovo has taken a different approach, highlighting its own competing products and asserting itself as an innovator in the space.

"For 10 quarters in a row, Lenovo has been the world's No. 1 PC company based on the strength of our innovative, pioneering products such as our Yoga 2-in-1 notebook launched in Oct. 2012," a Lenovo spokesman said in an email statement to CRN. "Now we also see Microsoft, as others have recently done, invest in the 2-in-1 category with their new announcement."

Microsoft on Tuesday ,unveiled the Surface Book, a 13.5-inch laptop with a detachable touch screen, introducing itself as a competitor in a crowded market and taking direct aim at hardware OEMs like Dell and HP.

[Related: Partners: Microsoft's Surface Book Puts HP, Dell, Lenovo On The Hot Seat]

The tone and focus of Lenovo's reaction contrasts with HP's, as well as that of Dell, which praised Microsoft as a "great partner," and framed the Surface Book announcement as a good way for Microsoft to create "greater awareness of the benefits of Windows 10," a move a Dell spokesman said was "good for our customers, Microsoft and for us."

Lenovo sought to position itself as an outright competitor, touting its leadership in the segment and wide range of products and price points.

According to Lenovo: "For the past three years, the 2-in-one category has been the fastest growing form factor in the market, and Lenovo has continued to lead the way with numerous awards and industry accolades. The one that started it all, the Lenovo Yoga consumer 2-in-one is available from $299 to $1,599. For our commercial customers, our new ThinkPad Yoga 260, weighing in at just under 2.9 lbs, offers a number of valued enterprise features including an embedded pend integrated WWAN, and fingerprint reader. Lenovo will continue to provide our customers with leading technology, great value and innovative products."

Reacting to Microsoft's introduction of the Surface Book, one West Coast solution provider told CRN OEMs would have to focus on innovation in order to beat Microsoft in the laptop game. Lenovo, he said, could be ahead of the game. The Chinese PC giant "was the first to take an evolutionary step [in the market] with the Yoga," he said.