Last month there were rumors that Lenovo was working on a Windows Phone-based device. Now those rumors have apparently been confirmed by the Chinese web site iMobile (via Engadget). Lenovo product manager Chen Yu is apparently quoted in the article as saying that Lenovo will release a smartphone based on Microsoft"s mobile operating system. However, it won"t be released until sometime in the second half of 2012. No other details about the Lenovo Windows Phone product were revealed.
While there have been rumors of a Lenovo Windows Phone product dating back nearly a year ago, this is the first real confirmation that such a device is indeed in the works by the company best known here in the US for making the ThinkPad notebooks.
The scheduled release date for the Lenovo phone means that a lot of other Windows Phone-based companies, including Nokia, Samsung and HTC, could have a big head start on Lenovo in the massive Chinese market. Indeed, Nokia already has plans to release the Lumia 800 in China sometime in the spring of 2012. There"s no word if Lenovo will bring this new smartphone over to the US.
If Lenovo can add some new features that will make its Windows Phone stand out from the crowd it could have some success but considering we know nearly nothing about this device at this point, it"s useless to speculate about what its chances are in the overall smartphone market.