Collaboration in the New Era of IoT

Partnerships and collaboration are more important now than ever for technology companies, because today we live in an era of unprecedented changes.

In this IoT era, anything around us can have computing, storage and networking modules built inside, and become intelligent. Opportunities are abundant, and no one company can do it all.  Big companies – like Lenovo – need the swiftness and fresh ideas of startups. Lenovo is moving beyond just devices to Device + Cloud, because the next era is all about CONNECTED computing.

COLLABORATION WITH LENOVO                                                       

The PHAB2 Pro with Tango is a great example of the progress we’re making towards the next era of connected computing. We worked closely in partnership with Google to be the first company to bring this new, advanced augmented reality technology to market. But the product itself is only the beginning.  The ecosystem that is built around it, through collaboration, will be where we see even more innovation and excitement.

In fact, that’s why we asked for YOUR help.  This summer at Viva Technology Paris, we welcomed several startups to share their ideas for Tango applications. The winners will travel to Beijing, and present to the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group for possible funding.

And even more, I want to be sure you are aware of another big opportunity to innovate with Lenovo.  With our new Moto Mods Smartphone, we did not just launch a single product.  Actually Mods are a platform – a new category we call the Snap Phone.  You can snap on a camera, a speaker, a battery … the possibilities are endless, and we are limited by our own imagination. 

This opens huge opportunities for hardware makers AND for cloud service companies.  That is why at Tech World we announced a ONE MILLION DOLLAR award to individuals or companies that create the best Mod prototypes.  This is not just for hardware designers.  This is about creating a powerful, unique, cloud connected experience.

Truly, in a cloud connected world, the sky is the limit! Are you in?

In the past, Lenovo was primarily a device company, and we have always thrived in the device business and will continue to do so.  But in this IoT era, we will build more specific-purposed devices, driven by different user scenarios at home, at work or on the go, powered by intelligence on the cloud or within the device,  that can anticipate your needs, learn your preferences, sense the environment, and direct you to specific services provided by third parties. 

But even beyond this, we need partners – large and small companies, and even individual innovators – to help us truly make the most of the Device + Cloud era.  I hope that our new initiatives to support ecosystem development inspire great thinking and even more innovation everywhere.

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Learn more about the PHAB2 Pro with Tango: http://www.lenovo.com/tango

For more info about the Moto Mods Development Kit and the certification process, visit http://developer.motorola.com. 

Follow me on Twitter: @Yuanqing_Lenovo