Lenovo CEO Talks Motorola

Google’s sale of its Motorola subsidiary to Lenovo at a nearly $10 billion loss was no doubt the biggest story in tech this week and Lenovo’s CEO was quick to go on record with his intentions for the ailing maker of the Moto X and Moto G smartphones.

In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang revealed that his company had been interested in Motorola since 2011. Lenovo hopes to leverage the brand to find better traction in the West, where its market penetration is far less than in its native China. It’s unclear yet whether Lenovo will release new products in the states under the Motorola or Lenovo banner, or both, but the company is clearly looking to step outside the economy phone market where it makes its bread and butter.

“In China, certainly we will keep the Lenovo brand, but it is possible that we will reintroduce the Motorola brand as well. We have a full range of channels to sell our phones, so for different channels we could use different brands to maximize our sales volume,” Yang said. “Regarding the product portfolio, we don't want to be playing just in the entry level or to be viewed as a cheaper brand. We want to compete in the full range of the product line, including the premium segment. Both Lenovo and Motorola have the DNA of innovation. I believe we can develop a very innovative or very premium product. Meanwhile, we should be more competitive in the entry level given that Lenovo has global scale in our manufacturing capabilities and operational efficiency.”

Perhaps the most interesting reveal in the Fortune interview is Yang’s admission that Lenovo will aim to surpass both Samsung and Apple in smartphone sales. Yang says he hopes the company will move over 100 million smartphones in 2015.