Lenovo’s three new tablets try to tackle the iPad

Lenovo today introduced a trio of new tablet computers, two running Google’s Android 3.1 operating system and the third powered by Microsoft Windows 7. The Wi-Fi tablets, which leverage the ThinkPad and IdeaPad brands, range in price from $479 to $589 depending on model, storage capacity and an optional pen for one. The company will also offer a $99 keyboard portfolio case for at least one of the new tablets. Both Android tablets are comparably equipped, running on Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor and are the first Honeycomb devices to be certified for Netflix playback.

Here’s a brief summary of the devices:

IdeaPad K1 (starting at $499 for 32 GB model; orders begin today; U.S. availability in August)

1 GHz dual-core CPU10.1-inch IPS display; 1280×800 resolutionUp to 1 GB of memory, 16/32/64 GB of storage capacity802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi; BluetoothMicroSD card slot; micro-HDMI port5 megapixel rear camera; 2 megapixel front camera10.4? x 7.44? x 0.52?; weight of 1.63 poundsEstimated 10 hours of battery lifeThinkPad Tablet ($479 for 16 GB model; $589 for 32 GB with digitizer pen, orders begin August 2)1 GHz dual-core CPU10.1-inch IPS display; 1280×800 resolutionUp to 1 GB of memory, 16/32/64 GB of storage capacity802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi; BluetoothFull sized SD memory card slot; micro-HDMI port5 megapixel rear camera; 2 megapixel front camera10.4? x 7.44? x 0.52?; weight of 1.65 poundsEstimated 8 hours of battery lifeAn optional 3G model will be available shortly after launchThinkPad Tablet P1 (pricing not announced; availability in Q4)1.5GHz Intel processor10.1-inch display; 1280×800 resolutionUp to 2 GB of memory; 32/64 GB of storage capacity802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi; BluetoothUSB port; microSD card reader; docking port2 megapixel webcam10.9? x 7.24? x 0.57?; weight of 1.75 poundsEstimated 6 hours of battery life

Compared to most of the currently available tablets running Honeycomb, there’s little here to differentiate Lenovo’s offering. The ThinkPad model does have a digitizer from N-Trig, allowing for pen use and includes Notes Mobile software; I suspect that’s what adds slightly to the weight and decreases the battery life from the K1 model. Lenovo’s product team told me on a conference call last week that the Netflix certification is a big deal, and yes it is nice, but other large Android tablets are sure to gain the same certification soon.

Adobe Flash 10.3 support is there too, but that’s not selling tablets. Other software tweaks include a “Social Touch” app for easy social networking status viewing and Lenovo’s own take on a program launcher. In other words, minor tweaks aside, Lenovo is mixing the same recipe as other Android tablet vendors, just with slightly different software ingredients. Lenovo is however, including more than 40 apps from various top-tier partners such as Amazon, Electronic Arts, Rovio and DataViz.

The problem that Lenovo, and most other tablet vendors face is the iPad juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing. As my colleague Erica noted after today’s Apple investor call, the company has earned $6 billion from the iPad in the last quarter by selling 9.25 million iPads. I don’t have sales numbers or company reports to validate my thought here, but I’m willing to bet that adding up sales of all Android tablets combined this year and it wouldn’t match what the iPad brought to Apple in the last three months. Put another way: even as Apple continues to grow its PC business, mobile devices are already accounting for more of Apple’s earnings. In the meantime, Lenovo is readying consumer tablets in an already crowded market that appears stalled before it really even got started.

Developers know this and haven’t made the move to create compelling tablet-optimized apps for Honeycomb yet. And consumers are using tablets for more than just the web and email. When spending $500 or more on a tablet, they want a wide variety of third-party apps to choose from. No matter how nice the hardware looks, Lenovo’s Android tablets, like those from other manufacturers, can’t offer that yet. On the other hand, the P1 tablet with Windows does offer a range of available software, but most of it isn’t built for a mobile experience; the same challenge Windows tablets have always faced.

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Enterprise IT sees phones, Facebook and tablets! Oh my!

Enterprise employees have shifted from the gray and controlled world of corporate IT to the colorful Oz of consumer technologies, but according to data from an IDC/Unisys survey IT is in need of some kind of wizard to sort things out. According to dual surveys of 560 IT managers and another interviewing 2,660 employees and executives at large companies, IT underestimates the number of employees using laptops, mobiles and tablets as well as is unable to support those consumer devices.

And this isn’t just a matter of IT angst, there are issues for the bottom line as 89 percent of IT departments say they have not and have no plans to modernize customer-facing apps for mobile devices this year. A mere 6 percent have adapted their customer-facing apps for mobiles so far, which any of the 25 percent of folks using a smartphone for their web access instead of a computer can likely tell you.

Presumably as an IT services provider we can expect Unisys to use this data to sell their services that could help IT out of their morass. When it comes to mobile tech, Unisys/IDC counts laptops, smartphones and tablets. In some cases, totals will not add up to 100 percent because other options offered on the survey were not included in the infographic. Finally, the 20 percent of respondents who said they are texting, tweeting or emailing while driving need to stop. Seriously.

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