---- Eine Werbung für Lenovo Laptop Computer unter einer U-Bahn-Station in Shanghai, China, 27. Januar 2013 gesehen. Für ein Unternehmen, das überwiegend
--FILE--An advertisement for Lenovo laptop computers is seen at a metro station in Shanghai, China, 27 January 2013. For a company operating mostly in a shrinking market, Lenovo, the worlds largest PC maker, has been growing quickly. To accelerate that growth, the Chinese company this month hired actor Ashton Kutcher to help redesign its tablets, hoping that the man who recently played Steve Jobs on screen might help the companys mobile gadgets catch up with Apples. But although its LePads are lagging iPads substantially, investors this year have nonetheless been far more enthusiastic about Lenovo than about the real Mr Jobss company. Lenovos shares are up around 25 per cent, while those of Apple are down 2.3 per cent year to date. To keep investors on side, the company recognises the need to continue its push beyond PCs by expanding a smartphone division now concentrated on China and, potentially, moving into areas such as servers to support rising demand for cloud computing. Analysts and some of its competitors say Lenovo is one of the few PC companies that seems able to keep outperforming a slow market. Its investment in product design, access to a massive home market, and strong corporate sales have put it in an unusually strong position atop a PC market whose falling sales ¨C down 9 per cent last quarter ¨C have weakened nearly all its rivals. Last quarter, the group reported record high sales and net income of $9.8 bn and $220m, respectively.
