Steve Jobs (well, Ashton Kutcher) to promote Lenovo?

Will he appear in his characteristic black turtleneck and reveal one more thing?

Will he proclaim to be the possessor of magic and revolutionary products?

Perhaps we will soon see, if rumors are to be believed that Ashton Kutcher -- he who is the incarnation of Steve Jobs in a new movie -- is to become the new spokesperson for Lenovo.

The New York Post's (almost) unimpeachable Page Six column insists that Kutcher is about to sign a $10 million deal with Lenovo to promote its products and even appear in some ads.

Lenovo isn't always associated with either of those.Kutcher is well-known as a savvy investor and presenter of technology. His associations withWarby Parker and Pickwick and Weller show that he has taste and vision.

Its products sometimes gain positive reviews, but its brand seems as well defined as the future of "American Idol."

Kutcher has for quite a while been the advertising face of Nikon, yet there were some rumors earlier this year that he and Nikon were in a strained relationship.

In theory, a marriage between Lenovo and Kutcher could be a progressive moment in building the company's brand.

But, as with all these things, what would truly matter is how he was used -- and, perhaps, how much time and effort he could devote to helping Lenovo impress itself upon the emotions of real people.

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Could BlackBerry and Android integration make sense? Ask Lenovo’s CEO

Lenovo has been hinting at being interested in BlackBerry. Would integrating or assimilating BlackBerry into Android be any good for the ecosystem?

Lenovo is more popular for its line of desktop and notebook computers, although the company actually has a respectable smartphone business in its home country of China. But with news that BlackBerry might be up for grabs, Lenovo has reportedly been one of the parties potentially interested in acquiring or partnering with the Canadian company for its mobile business.

We earlier reported on this in January, shortly before BlackBerry’s announcement of its renaming of its corporate entity from RIM into BlackBerry. That time, it was Lenovo’s Chief Financial Officer who was quoted as saying the company was looking for right opportunities for acquisition or licensing. Lenovo issued a statement shortly thereafter, saying its executive may have been misquoted, and that the company was seeking opportunities in a generic sense.

Does it make sense?

Just recently, another Lenovo executive spoke about the possibility of dealing with BlackBerry. Its Chief Executive Officer, Yang Yuangquing, was cited by French-lanugage Les Echos to say that a deal could make sense. “As for BlackBerry, the file could possibly make sense. But first I have to analyze the market well and understand what is the exact weight of this company,” says Yang’s statement (translated via Google).

Of course, we cannot take these statements at face value, because they’re speculative, after all. Even if they were from the company’s CEO, this is not necessarily Lenovo’s official stance. But what’s important to consider here is that Lenovo seems to be having BlackBerry in its sights. So whether or not they’re actually actively pursuing a deal with the Canadian company, they still consider the brand to be valuable, even amid BlackBerry’s decline in the mobile market.

What could this mean for mobile consumers, then? Perhaps it may not be too relevant to those interested in the mobile market as consumers. But considering both Lenovo and BlackBerry consider the enterprise market a key driver of their respective businesses, then there might be a possible synergy here. We earlier mentioned a few reasons why Lenovo might be interested enough to hint at a licensing or acquisition deal, and a focus on this particular segment of the market might be the answer.

Android + BlackBerry = ?

Still, for the consumer market, it might be interesting if Lenovo were to somehow integrate BlackBerry into its own Android offerings. How about talking to BBM friends on Android, or even paying through the recently-launched BBM Money?

In the end, it boils down to how relevant BlackBerry still is in the mobile ecosystem, and whether BlackBerry can slug it out with today’s dominant players for long. The platform is obviously no longer as strong as it was before, declining to only 4% or so of the global smartphone market. Integrating with Lenovo might mean integrating its core services with Lenovo’s own Android offerings. Imagine assimilating BlackBerry services into Android devices (such as enterprise server or BBM). Could that be a good thing for the Android ecosystem?

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Lenovo’s amazing IdeaPhone K900 might arrive in China next month for $485

It seems Lenovo can’t make its mind up yet about how much they want to charge customers for its upcoming superphone, the IdeaPhone K900. But that’s not necessarily such a bad thing, especially since we’re now hearing that it’ll come at a much lower price than what it’s originallygoing to be offered for.
According to an anonymous Lenovo source, the IdeaPhone K900 will be selling for 2,999 Yuan in China or roughly about $485. Compared to $635, its “old” price, it certainly makes the K900 that much more appealing.
Alongside the new price, the Intel-powered handset finally gets a release date as well. Previously hinted to come in late March or early April, the same source said that the phone will hit stores on April 17.
In case you need a refresher, the IdeaPhone K900 boasts a 5.5-inch IPS display with 1,920 x 1080 resolution, placing it neatly next to other full HD phones in the market. Powering the device is a dual-core 2.0GHz Intel Atom Z5280 processor, which according to benchmark is quite the speed demon.
Other specs include 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage with microSD support, 13MP rear camera with Sony BSI sensor, 2MP front cam for those Instagram selfies, NFC, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Lenovo manages to pack everything inside a pretty thin 6.9 mm shell.

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Lenovo S920 leaked – a supersized mid-range smartphone with Android 4.2

The past several years have been really hard on most major PC manufacturers, but not on Lenovo. The China-based corporation has more than thrived under pressure, boosting its profits when almost everyone else was bleeding money.
And after climbing to number two in the PC vendor ranks, Lenovo is now obviously looking for a new challenge. Which might well be the smartphone world. The Intel-based K900 can be called the company’s first real venture in the high-end phone niche, especially that we expect it to geta global release pretty soon.
Meanwhile, the company needs to consolidate its already impressive homeland smartphone sales and what better way to do that than unveiling a stylish supersized mid-ranger with a friendly price point?

Said device, allegedly named S920, is not yet official, but, according to sources close toMyDrivers, it should go on sale in a couple of months. We already have a bunch of photos showing off the 5.3-incher and you can pick up on the HTC Butterfly “homage” from a mile away.
The bright colors, the slim body and even the curves and edges of this new “phablet” scream Butterly. Not that it’s a bad thing. After all, HTC’s big guy is a very stylish slab of silicon, so why not take a few design cues from it?
As far as hardware goes, the S920 is not to break any records, as it’s supposed to pack a quad-core Mediatek MT6589 processor and, we’re guessing, 1 GB of RAM. The MT6589, while boasting four active cores, is barely faster than a dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip, so we don’t think we’re wrong when saying the S920 is not to be a high-ender.

The new phone’s leakers have been mum on the display’s resolution, but the chances of it being Full HD are slim. 720p is definitely in the cards, which is still okay provided the price will be right. The only other details known at this time is the thing will be running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (which is nice) and the battery will be a 2,250 mAh unit (not so cool).
Obviously, everything will hang on pricing, but we’re fairly certain Lenovo can deliver and make the S920 irresistible. At least for folks over in China, because we don’t think the 5.3-incher will enjoy a global launch anytime soon.

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