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Lenovo's Gianfranco Lanci on the PC Plus era and the threat of Microsoft's Surface

Lenovo's Gianfranco Lanci on the PC Plus era and the threat of Microsoft's Surface

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Fresh off his company's manifold Windows 8 device announcements at IFA 2012, Lenovo's Gianfranco Lanci sat down with us for a few minutes to discuss the present state of the PC industry.

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gianfranco lanci_stock

Fresh off his company's manifold Windows 8 device announcements at IFA 2012, Lenovo's Gianfranco Lanci sat down with us for a few minutes to discuss the present state of the PC industry. It's become something of a nebulous term these days, the PC industry, what with the definition of the personal computer undergoing a transformation into new form factors and types of functionality, but Lanci appears unfazed by this period of flux. He defines the PC world in terms almost equivalent to the Windows ecosystem — which is to say, if it runs Windows, it's a PC, whatever its size or shape — but he's also on board with Microsoft's more expansive concept of PC Plus.

Will we ever see a carbon fiber ThinkPhone?

Lanci defines PC Plus as an expansion on the number and sort of devices that plug into that core Windows ecosystem, plus an expansion in the cross-pollination we can expect to see with other ecosystems. Without naming the spectral names of Apple and Google, he posits the current computing world as operating within roughly three ecosystems, and to him this PC Plus idea is about the need for greater interaction between them and Microsoft's software. In simple terms, the PC isn't dying, it's evolving.

Microsoft's rather more revolutionary step, the introduction of the first Microsoft-produced Windows hardware was also a topic of discussion for us, but Lanci maintained Lenovo's determined attitude expressed in the wake of the Surface tablet announcement. Like his CEO, Lenovo's EMEA President believes Microsoft's entry into the field can only serve to stimulate good companies to up their game, so it cannot be taken as a bad thing.

Finally, we wrapped things up by asking Gianfranco Lanci the inevitable question: when are we going to see a carbon fiber ThinkPhone? If you're curious to know his answer, or wondering about the differences between Lanci's previous post as CEO of Acer and current leadership role as European boss for Lenovo, watch the full interview below to be enlightened.