Laptop Market On the Move

At first glance, the 2005 VARBusiness Annual Report Card (ARC) mobile-computing landscape seems to have shifted. But, in truth, the picture remains largely the same.

Lenovo, which acquired the IBM Personal Computing Division last May, retains IBM's previous leadership in the Mobile Computers category. The company credits, in part, its No. 1 rank in the Product Innovation category to the ThinkPad X41 tablet PC, introduced in June.

"When Lenovo was designing this tablet, they looked at all the tablets on the market and asked how they could improve on them," says Nancy Lamberson, an account executive at New England Systems, a VAR in Naugatuck, Conn. "Although they are not first in the market, IBM [Lenovo] is often one level better than the competition when they come out. I am able to get appointments with customers to talk about the X41 tablet, even if they have existing relationships with other VARs."

Others in the pack of contenders also identified tablet products as key in 2005. Toshiba announced the Tecra M4 convertible tablet PC, which provides a traditional keyboard, pen and 14-inch screen. In September, Gateway introduced its second-generation tablet in the M280E, a 14-inch wide-screen convertible notebook. Key parameters include 8.5-hour battery life, 1.73- GHz Intel Pentium processor and affordable price.

"Products like the tablet offer a lot of opportunities for the channel," says Rob Herman, a ThinkPad product manager at Lenovo. "We have ISVs calling every day with new applications. Since we launched, we have swept in a lot of these ISVs, so it gives us collectively a better value proposition to take to the VARs."

This year, vendors started focusing on increasing value in their notebook offerings. Last month, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad Z3 series of products, which offer 14- and 15-inch screens and integrated wireless WAN, as well as features aimed at small-business customers.

All the contenders in the notebook space have also been revamping and simplifying their channel programs. Second-place Hewlett-Packard, for instance, recently introduced its PartnerOne network tool, which brings a variety of programs under a single umbrella. This program includes subsidies for marketing campaigns, additional demo units, special rebates and pricing discounts, says Ramona Thibeault, HP's vice president of the Personal Systems Group, Americas, Business Notebooks.

Third-place winner Toshiba tightened up its channel program. "In the last year, we focused on keeping a consistent program in front of the channel," says Patrick Mani, vice president of field sales for Toshiba's Digital Products Division. Key points for Toshiba were eliminating channel conflict, supplementing existing Web-based tools with new capabilities and increasing service and support.

Gateway, meanwhile, relaunched its ProNet channel program in February.

"Gateway has been viewed as a direct selling engine," says Tiffani Bova, Gateway's senior director of indirect channel sales and programs. "If we are going to get into this space seriously, we have to have rules of engagement."

The ProNet program currently has 1,500 partners, but Gateway will identify 175 strategic partners to cover key geographic regions and market segments. In addition, Gateway has begun a market alignment funds program.

"Getting to the local level takes marketing funds," says Amy Rutt, president at Ciracom, a reseller in Fairfax, Va. "We're looking forward to some really aggressive campaigns."

Soon, Gateway will explore several new programs, including the possibility of passing sales responsibility for certain state regions and vertical markets to select partners, a new lead-distribution program and a new marketing program in which Gateway would help partners fund marketing efforts.