Product Hype
Many of us at Lenovo have been monitoring the recent forum conversations touting a new generation of ThinkPad. It’s been interesting to read the comments, and I have been thoroughly impressed with the resourcefulness of people in taking a simple picture and extrapolating so much information from it. (That doesn’t mean they’re right). Check the discussion out here or here.
Wired Magazine had a great article this month on Immersive Games in which companies are creating puzzles, riddles and treasure hunts for their fans to solve. Individuals have no chance themselves of solving the puzzles, but the collective wisdom of people around the world can do some pretty amazing things. I think this quote from the article sums it up nicely.
Our assumption,” says Sean Stewart, the game’s head writer, “was never that there’s a continent of people who love nothing better than to do spectrogram analysis. But there are always a few, and if you make a world that’s compelling enough, there’ll be a lot to do even if you’re not interested in the really arcane stuff.”
I haven’t even begun to do justice to the article, so I’d highly recommend checking it out. Fortunately, Wired puts its articles online.
While Lenovo has not created an immersive game, looking at the posts reads like a game is unfolding.
First, a picture appears on an obscure site in a foreign language not familiar to most people.
Second, taking that picture, fans are able to do some pretty creative things with it like determine product dimensions. I’ve got to applaud the creativity of overlaying the picture posted on the forums with of a picture of a known size, matching up the ports and then extrapolating product dimensions.
Third, start a massive hype cycle in which people start filling in the blanks. Soon everyone is an expert, and since “he heard from a reputable source that…,” the story quickly grows and spreads.
Fourth, (and we’re not quite to this stage yet), out come the fanboys and the bitter naysayers. The naysayers claim that this is going to be the worst product ever and bankruptcy for the company is nigh. Sell your stuff on eBay now before it becomes completely worthless. On the other end are the groups where everything is rainbows and kittens. “This is going to be Lenovo’s BEST product ever…We’re entering a new era…Battery life of 36 hours!…”
The reality often is somewhere in the middle.
I’ve got to admire companies who can keep products secret ahead of announce. Apple and Nikon are great examples. Their mentality is, “If you tell, you’re fired, and then we’ll sue you and make sure your garbage never gets picked up again.” The downside to extreme secrecy is that Apple will never be a true player for large companies until the company starts offering a product roadmap. Business customers don’t tolerate not knowing when and how product changes will occur. They need this information to plan their roll outs of thousands of machines.
On the other hand, I’ve often thought that we make too much information available too early. Customers like when we do this, but honestly, whether a product weighs 1.6kg or 1.8kg is immaterial for deciding when to transition products from one generation to the next. Plus, when we disclose too early we stall sales.
Take a look at the forums. Offer your own speculation if you’d like. We’ll be watching closely.
The Lenovo IdeaCentre B510
The Lenovo IdeaPad U160
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Diary 2
January 4th, 2008 10:00 pm
The sales impact question to me is always an interesting one, but I tend to think that Apple is more outlier here than example. In my experience, most of those that would buy Apple are going to buy an Apple. Not an Apple or a Lenovo or a Dell, but an Apple. While that has been true of Thinkpads, at least, in the past, I’m not sure that can be said any more. On an individual basis, anyhow, which I realize constitutes a fraction of your total sales.
Still, more information on the above, earlier, might prevent some people from buying a Dell or other competitive alternatives. Some people, for example, like me.
It is a tough question, though.
January 4th, 2008 11:40 pm
Disclosing early isn’t the ONLY thing to stall sales.
I’m a major Thinkpad “fanboy” (if anyone can truly have fanboys but Apple, eesh), and Lenovo of course has some history in this area.
But out from under the watchful eye of Big Blue, product quality is something we’re all watching.
I’m excited about what’s being developed and not a “naysayer,” but at least in my opinion it is fair to say that sizable departures from the things that made Thinkpad famous (build quality perhaps #1) – perceived, rumored, or real – leave even us so-called-fanboys watching with a bit of nervousness.
I hope we can be as proud of the Thinkpad generations to come as Lenovo obviously is.
January 5th, 2008 12:04 am
Intel sets the pace in this industry, and there is a roadmap of at least 2-4 years avaialable on most good tech sites. Seriously, there is no big secret about laptop releases as there is nothing truely earthshattering done in laptop design, just consistant evolution (which is a GOOD thing in my opinion). Intel is the kingpin — it all depends on them and they already disclose a good deal of info.
So, please don’t try and hide your release cycle. It is just an inconvience. Lenovo products are made for consumers, small, medium, and large business as well as government and education. By playing elitest like Apple, you are closing the door on a large percentage of the business market.
As an aside, I heard that the new 13.3″ model packed dual IBM POWER6 CPUs! O_o
January 5th, 2008 1:21 am
[...] Inside the Box » Blog Archive » Product Hype i’m not hearing a no (tags: lenovo thinkpad rumors product hype) [...]
January 5th, 2008 3:13 pm
Matt, don’t get me wrong but I will quote one of your replies from here: http://www.lenovoblogs.com/ins.....mment-9449
“The shift to nVIDIA happened because of several things: Customer feedback, and we liked what we saw on nVIDIA’s roadmap”
January 7th, 2008 1:29 pm
i’ve been following this news. one can understand leakage of this kind of secret info is bad to lenovo. but i would think if you guys treat this crisis with an open mind, probably you can get useful feedback from all those loyal, die-hard thinkpad fanboys.
btw, from your article, if “an obscure site in a foreign language” is referring china’s 51NB.com , i’m afraid the term “obscure” is not correct, if you got good enough china’s market analysis, 51NB.com is the biggest thinkpad community among chinese ( with chinese from other countries too ), which is quite comparable to thinkpads.com in US.
( disclaimer: I’m just a normal user of 51nb.com and thinkpads.com , and have no benefit related to them , just feel both of them are very helpful, resourceful thinkpad communities. )
January 7th, 2008 3:24 pm
Short life of the big secret http://www.notebookreview.com/.....ewsID=4182
January 7th, 2008 3:33 pm
Oops, sorry, please ignore/remove my previous post
January 7th, 2008 8:43 pm
If we’re speculating for kicks here, I’d say that’s the X70. You’d expect them to do differently to Dell/HP, the pixel pitch on their 12″ notebooks are fairly small anyway. So instead of making it small and chubby you make it slim and (relatively) larger, just enough so that the pixel pitch is perfect. If this really is Lenovo’s answer to the SZ/m1330, then…well…hurry up guys!
January 7th, 2008 11:17 pm
Post some thermal images and keep up the hype.
January 10th, 2008 7:08 am
Well I think this “Product Hype” Matt is talking about, is somehow a common internet culture nowadays. In former times we have seen things like “pretest vehicle” (called “Erlkönig” in german) catchers, which reported about upcoming automobiles long time before those products got ready for the market.
Nowadays the whole digital life is fast, sometimes we might think maybe too fast. But that’s finally what it is everywhere inside the IT domain. So it’s no wonder that all kind of information and speculation circulates very fast through the internet mediums.
In sum up I would say, speculations are one thing, they do feed up the hype and interests about products, are sometimes used by company marketing people themselves and are maybe finally what keeps the people and communities exciting. – Approved, verified facts are often a different pair of shoes and serious people do first of all try out things themselves, before judging about specific products. – Since as we say in german “Paper doesn’t blush” and so is most internet based contents too!
January 10th, 2008 2:29 pm
Matt wrote:
Quote:
“…snip We’ll be watching closely.”
And we ARE watching you closely
andyP
January 10th, 2008 3:47 pm
That “obscure site in a foreign language” has just leaked pictures of your upcoming X series replacement as well.
Looks good. I like that you brought back the red lines on the trackpoint buttons and that it has an integrated webcam. The thick bezel is kind of ugly but quite tolerable if it gets us a better screen
Cheers!
January 10th, 2008 5:42 pm
I don’t know exactly, what you want to tell us with this article. But I have the impression, that you see the community still as adversary and not as partner and chance.
Why you talk about new thinkpads with your big buisiness customers but not with the biggest thinkpad fans?
January 11th, 2008 1:58 pm
S-Series ThinkPad X200?
I just discovered on the “obscure” website http://www.nb51.com the new forthcoming X-series in pictures.
A few days ago I was checking out the new T61 widesreen series and I was surprised about how thick und bulky the displays bezel was.
Even the new X200 (strange name, should it not be X62 or X70 ???) is much larger in footprint than it used to be. What is the reason for it?
The old T23 series had a perfect display bezel and still all antennas and upper port connectors with it.
January 12th, 2008 10:39 am
X200 – it looks very scarry. Massive thick screen bezel (all the design beauty of X series has gone) and widescreen :-/ It has moved to 13″ footprint and weight with poor screen resolution, I suppose. I’d reather have “good old” X61 with nice thin screen bezel and 12″ SXGA+ display. If I wanted super-thick-cheap-looking screen bezel I’d go for a FSC Esprimo U9200 for a half price of ThinkPad. Sorry Lenovo …
January 13th, 2008 9:17 am
X200.
If this is true, the “2″ stands for 12″ LCD.
So, we will have T500/400 or T700.
Like Ideapad, they are named in Y710, Y510 and Y410..
January 15th, 2008 5:53 am
If you do let details out prior to release, you can get grassroots feedback. I am about to replace my beloved X40 and I’m looking at a tosh r500 due to the larger screen resolution than the X61s offers. If there was an X series with a better resolution in the pipeline, I might hold off for it (my X40 still has a bit of life left in it). But I have no idea.
January 15th, 2008 10:47 am
I understand now why the new to be released X200 has such a thick bezel.
It seems similar to the ASUS eeePC, which has also has a huge bezel, and it sells like crazy.
I guess thick and bulky bezels are the must-have fashion of the year!
Unfortunately I am not a fashion addict and still rather conservative. The X200 is definitely a no-go for me.
January 15th, 2008 5:08 pm
I don’t understand people on here. When a Thinkpad lacks some fashionable feature they say it’s just a tool but when it has a slightly thicker bezel the whining does not stop. As I said earlier, if the thicker bezel gets me a better antenna / better display, I simply don’t mind it that much. That said, I do think it looks kind of ugly being so thick and it might affect some people’s buying decision.
Also, please stop taking the guesses that some web sites are making as fact! We do not know anything beyond the fact that we saw some pictures of a smallish looking laptop marked X200 with the old trackpoint lines returned to the buttons. This is not the same laptop in those strange shots of the one with the plastic hinges.
January 17th, 2008 12:43 pm
Well, Julio, I discovered a few more photos (even on the ebay image server) of the new X200. I think it is looking ok. Same Thinkpad. Thinkpads always looks the same, don’t they?
However, I still have an old T23 with WLAN as a music jukebox and that T23 has all antennas but now thick bezel at all. And it has SXGA too.
January 19th, 2008 12:45 pm
The point about NDA discussions to large customers about product roadmaps is a valid one in this case.
Let’s just say that this product has been talked about.
January 19th, 2008 1:30 pm
Matt, there’s been an extremely official looking, unofficial leak of the new X300 on Gizmodo. LOVE the specs, much more in this laptop than a lot of hot “AIR”. But is it really limited to an SSD? Please say it ain’t so. This would be a total show stopper for me.
http://gizmodo.com/346797/ultr.....pad-leaked
January 19th, 2008 11:53 pm
Well, in my opnion, the X series should remain as small as possible. If you want to release a new machine with the specs I’m hearing about, just release it as an R series. I’m sure many consumers would purchase it, but, as for me, I think the X61s is too large sometimes (believe it or not). The X series has always sacrificed power for footprint and weight. I see no reason for that to change.
Also, in the leaked photos, it shows ports on the back? I know its probably a prototype, but still, ThinkPads are known for not making us turn the computer around to plug something it, keep the ports on the sides. And have an option to get rid of the phone modem, I don’t know a single person who uses it.
January 20th, 2008 6:26 pm
Bob:
Thinkpads are for road warriors and world travelers, and in a lot of places a dial up connection is the only thing available
January 21st, 2008 6:37 am
I for my part like what I’ve read and saw so far related to the upcoming Thinkpad X300. I believe it will be a step into the right direction for a new still portable Thinkpad model. Notebooks in 13,3″ form factor got nowadays again very popular, also due to the growing supply from LCD panel makers. 13,3″ has also got the classic introduction size for LED based backlighting panels and there are a couple of suppliers for these panels.
Let’s hope the X300 will be offered then with competitive pricings in other regions of the world (outside the USA) too and not to be overprized, like most other Thinkpads are.
January 23rd, 2008 8:06 pm
My first impressions of the X300 from the link Ruger supplied above are pretty good.
Who knows, the X300 could be the ThinkPad to replace my T42. I find the X300 reminscent of my first laptop, a ThinkPad, a 600E – albiet with better specs. It would be nice to get a larger storage drive than 64 GB, but I could live with 64 GB. My T42 has a 60 GB drive and that is working for me.
The one thing that I do not like about the X300 in the link is it’s widescreen format. Let’s keep the 4:3!!!!!!!!!!!
January 25th, 2008 1:20 am
To me it seems as if it’s a ‘quick and dirty’ design using the same screen as the MB Air. I would rather have preferred a LED lit 12″ SXGA screen in the existing form factor. Or maybe a smaller widescreen 12″ display having the same width as the existing X series but not being as tall (to fit the shorter widescreen).
Both those would be more expensive options due to the higher, less commoditzed screen size, though. But I’d think it’d be worth it.
January 28th, 2008 12:25 am
Julio:
I dunno, in my travellings, I find that there tends to be broadband nearby. Always. Then again, I tend to stay in civilization. I have a friend who does some travelling to mountains and stuff, where they only have dial up, and he therefore uses a satellite card.
As for product improvements, I must say, the wireless kill switch should be recessed. It is fairly annoying when you move your TP around, and accidentally kill wireless, and spend a few minutes fiddling with Windows thinking that it’s at fault. Maybe move it onto the keyboard by the power button? Also, give us an option for either TrackPad or TrackPoint. No one wants both. No one. And of course we’re equally split on both sides.
Other than that, the fan needs to be made easier to clean. I notice that dust tends to block the grill and the heat sinks, very quickly. Perhaps this is why everyone is complaining of notebooks that overheat quickly? (I take care to clean out the inside of my Thinkpad once a month, and haven’t seen any heat issues)
Also hide the ribbing on the battery; it holds on to dust to no end.
There are a few other parts that accumulate grime to no end, I trust your staff can find them (if you use your own equipment in the field), if not, I’d be more than happy to point out where dust, grime, and crumbs accumulate.
Also, get rid of the noticeable integrity flaws such as the hole located on the outside of the lid, right above the ribbon input, which is currently covered in electrical tape, as well as the two tabs on the right side of the lid (I have a crack due to lack of solid integrity of the case on the lower of these two).
Even though this will probably be ignored, keep the IBM stickers on there as long as you can, or at least have the option for them; I’d willingly pay an extra $25 for them, just out of nostalgia.
64Gb SSD. Thats too little for my needs. While it is true that currently I only have 61 Gb on my primary disk, usually this tends to be 80, unless I’m away from my secondary disks, in which I will run that up to 95 Gb. I really don’t want to have to carry an external disk if I can have what I need internal. (By the way, didn’t Hitachi announce the technology to build a domino sized 1 TB hard disk last year or the year before? Something about laying the data markers on their sides? What ever happened to that? Perpendicular magnetic recording or something…)
Of course, a “hypothetical” announce date would be nice, heh.
January 29th, 2008 6:16 am
Well I see that we have quite diverging opinions here. For instance for me X300 is my dreams’ machine: I thought Lenovo read my mind while I was asleep. Let me argue why I disagree with previous posts on several points.
- 16:9? I like it, since I need the extra space to put side by side emacs, terminals and results of compilation. But please no glossy screen: thinkpads are mainly conceived for serious work not watching DVDs.
- 12′ display? I would rather prefer Lenovo to squeeze in the same space a 14′ as Fujitsu did (will do) in its forthcoming S6510. Probably the reason is that I’m 42 and my eyes starts to like larger and larger screens. But please do not use more vertical space since then it becomes difficult to use it on airplane tablets (yes, I would love to travel in business class)
- TrackPad vs TrackPoint? If I was to choose between the two I would choose the latter, but I do prefer to have then both simply because I plan to program the trackPad for vertical and horizontal scroll wheels, as well as a an iPod controller. (Sorry Bob but there is at leas one person that wants both).
- 64Gb? It is quite ok for me since my 40Gb X40 Thinkpad is not full, yet. But probably this is due to the fact that as soon as I receive a new computer I delete all Microsoft OSs and replace them with the less space hungry Linux.
- Wireless switch? I do miss it on my Thinkpad X40, but I agree with Bob that it would be wise to have it well protected. That said, I used to have a Toshiba portege that had it just in the front, and it never happened to me to acidentally switch it off … and I am a “road warrior and world traveller”(as Julio nicely says): each of my laptops traveled so much that it could have made many world tours (my Thinkpad is so consumed that you can see what is under the black matte painting). For this reason I hope that the power transformer will be quite compact and light (something that is sometimes neglected)
Oh, and I LOVE the possibility of replacing the seldom used DVD by an extra battery that will allow me to use my laptop in Intercontinental flights, and the possibility of having a GPS on it, so as not to be completely lost in a foreign country. And as Bill I would pay 25 Euros for and IBM sticker our of nostalgia and would be happy to have a very hypothetical announce date.
February 3rd, 2008 8:16 pm
I have only one simple request: Please don’t take away the 4:3 12″.
February 14th, 2008 10:54 am
Hello!
I just wanted to comment/ask: what’s with the ThinkPad 6731EXU being sold on a certain retailer’s page? I say this out of complete and rabid fanaticism for the Thinkpad/Lenovo/IBM brand/technology/culture. I, like many others, like to keep close tabs on all new products by Lenovo, especially Thinkpad, and had read nothing new save the leaked information of a new ultraportable recently (which is beautiful, by the way!).
I just wished you guys would let us know officially, before we stumble across new offerings that cannot be found on the Lenovo page, and without any official news.
On a lighter note, I’ thrilled at the new design, although the rounded corners will take a little getting used to (I’m not a purist, but I do like the Bento Box look, please don’t get too far away from that design!).
One more thing, on the subject of Thinkpad culture. I wish Lenovo would offer apparel (T-shirts, baseball hats, etc.) based on the Thinkpad motif. I feel that people like me, Thinkpad Fans, are as much into our machines as those of other subculture-status computer brands (which shall remain nameless), but have no way to externalize it.
I would love to have a computer bag, t-shirt, hat, and bumper sticker showing that I’m a Thinkpad person. Thinkpad is the greatest notebook series ever, it single-handedly changed the way we do mobile business computing. No one in the mobile computing community has as much reason to be a proud owner of a product as we do. Omega watches flew to the moon, and Omega reminds the public of it any chace they get, and Thinkpads have spent far more time in space than any Speedmaster watch ever did, and still are as I write this, yet the only reason I know this is because I like to seek the information out.
Help us (Thinkpad owners) keep (and show) our pride, guys, and I promise you we will be the best salesforce a computer company ever had.
Thanks.
-Fred.
February 15th, 2008 1:17 pm
Fred,
Great suggestion on the apparel. Maybe we can make something happen down the road…
But I’m not sure what you’re asking about on the 6731EXU – it looks like just another T61 15.4-widescreen model…what is it you’re asking?
February 15th, 2008 4:27 pm
Hi Tim!
The pictures of the 6731EXU show the unit had rounded corners, as opposed to the square corners of the the rest of the Thinkpads I’ve ever seen. That’s the only noticeable difference I saw.
What I meant to ask was, assuming that was a new model, why it hadn’t showed up in the official page of Lenovo first. Maybe I was wrong in assuming it was a new model. Thanks so much for listening on the apparel question. We appreciate the work you guys do for your customer base/fans.
Have a great weekend.
February 15th, 2008 6:48 pm
Fred,
The logo is hard to read, but that system looks like a Z61m. I’ve got a Z61p here in front of me and the edges are indeed rounded. Plus the MTM doesn’t show up my usual sources, indicating to me it’s a discontinued model – so a Z Series makes perfect sense.
So not a new model, but an old one
April 1st, 2008 3:57 pm
Yapp. Please don’t take away the 4:3 12″. x should mean just that; a small portable “x”, not a big clumbsy “X” like the huge X300.
June 25th, 2008 9:54 pm
Product Hype in itself is somewhat a bonus for many companies, since this is pretty much free advertising, as more people delve into a product they would have an increased appreciation of the product. Sony PS2 and PS3, PSP and XBOX/XBOX 360 all generated a fan gathering, through selective information leakage by official and un-official sources. Apple is an extremely secretive organisation, not only in product launch but also in all of its production method. So much so, workers at Apple’s contract manufacturing plant in China, can’t leave the premise only during New Years or special circumstances. All worker’s personal belongs are searched and stored in a special luggage area, which is understandable given the fact that once people know their product’s production secret, their products would be copied and therefore would lose the innovation value (something Apple holds dear to).
Obviously, Apple haven’t always been successful, there have been hard times for the company which later saw the reinstatement of Steve Job as the ‘iCEO’, he carried that abbreviation to the iPod product.