联想集团(Lenovo Group Ltd.)在美国的征程才刚刚开始。

相关报道因其ThinkPad电脑而闻名的联想正在慢慢挺进美国消费电脑市场。按照该公司首席执行长(CEO)杨元庆的说法，这一过程虽然缓慢但却是经过深思熟虑的，它将随着今年晚些时候联想推出专为美国市场打造的首台高端个人电脑而达到高潮。

杨元庆在拉斯维加斯参加消费电子展(Consumer Electronics Show)期间接受记者采访时说，在商用电脑领域我们依托Think品牌打造出最佳产品。他计划依靠联想公司备受推崇的商用电脑所积聚的人气开始销售高端个人电脑。

就在联想公司日益重视美国市场的同时，它已经开始巩固其作为全球最大个人电脑制造商的地 位。联想公司近10年前收购国际商业机器公司(IBM)的ThinkPad个人电脑业务之前，其在西方的知名度相对较低。自那时以来，联想一直在稳步发展 自身业务。按某些指标衡量，它已经成为全球最大的个人电脑制造商。

杨元庆说，现在联想拥有在美国市场加大投资所需的规模和资金。去年联想公司推出了触屏个人 电脑Yoga，其铰链允许屏幕和键盘被弯曲成不同位置，比如从标准的笔记本电脑变成平板电脑，经过翻转其键盘可以藏在屏幕下方。今年该公司发布了一款27 英寸的触屏台式机，这款台式机的支架可以向内收起，放平之后可以当做平板电脑使用。

凭借Yoga这样的产品，联想在美国搭载微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)Windows 8操作系统且售价最低为900美元这一电脑细分市场上，已攫取了超过40%的份额。杨元庆说，我们取得了很大进步，过去几个季度的增长速度超过主要竞争对手。

但他表示在高端个人电脑市场上存在机遇。苹果公司(Apple Inc.)被认为是一个高端品牌，其它厂商难以匹敌其设计和制造质量。杨元庆说，他希望今年晚些时候联想能够扩大其消费电脑品牌，并加大同苹果和其它高端电脑在设计上的竞争。

杨元庆说，我们仍然有提高设计的空间。想要开发出高档产品，你必须推动创新，并将产品质感和工程设计推向极致。

杨元庆说，联想乐于接受这种挑战。他说，每次看到一件原型机产品，他都觉得它很了不起。但最终产品出来后，却没有原型机那么好看，因为公司出于成本考虑降低了产品的质量。杨元庆表示这种情况将在今年发生变化。

他说，联想终将面向美国市场推出一款智能手机。但他说，为实现这个目的，联想扩大了它在其 品牌所占优势更大的新兴市场的份额。他说，苹果和三星电子(Samsung Electronics Co.)的财务实力更加雄厚，可以同时做不同的事情、向市场出售多种产品。他还提到苹果确实拥有主场优势。

但杨元庆说，他相信联想在美国是有机会的，他将通过Yoga和Horizon等消费级PC打造联想品牌，循序渐进地利用这种机会。

他说，我们无法所有事情都一起做，没有那么多资金，但智能手机可能是接下来要做的。

杨元庆说，他对华为技术(Huawei Technologies Co.)等其他中国科技企业近期面临的拷问并不担心。他说，联想在集中精力扩大业务的同时，也做到了尽可能的透明。

他说，这是一种常态，每个国家对本国公司都更加放心。

但杨元庆希望美国不会采取保护主义立场。他还说，中国政府在有同等国货存在的时候，还是采购了不少美国产品。

他说，对于联想来讲，最近在北卡罗莱纳州开办一座制造工厂的决定不仅会把联想的更多办事机构搬到美国本土，还将有助于满足美国客户的需求，因为在美国国内生产专门配置的台式机和笔记本电脑将比从海外发货远更迅速、更有效率。

杨元庆说，这座制造工厂最多将创造300个就业岗位，可能还会更多。他说，如果能够在美国取得更大市场份额，拥有更多客户，我们肯定会增加员工数量。

在离客户更近的地方生产专门的台式机、笔记本电脑和服务器，并不只是联想专在美国实施的策略。杨元庆说，联想在日本、印度和巴西也建立了设施，并在考虑修建更多设施，从而在自己涉足的具体市场上满足当地客户的需要，增加在当地的研发活动。

他说，对联想来说，规模是一个关键考虑，我们现在的规模足够为客户提供这种服务。

 Lenovo Group Ltd. (LNVGY) has only just started in the U.S.

The Chinese computer firm, which is known for its ThinkPad PC line, is slowly working its way toward the American consumer market with what he says is a thoughtful, if slow, approach that will culminate in the company's first high-end PCs for the U.S. market later this year.

'We have the best products in commercial space with the Think brand,' said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's chief executive, in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show here. He plans to rely on the popularity of his company's well-regarded business computers to start selling high-end PCs.

Lenovo's growing focus on the U.S. market comes as it has begun to solidify its standing as the world's top PC manufacturer. The company was relatively unknown in the western world before it purchased International Business Machines Corp.'s (IBM) ThinkPad PC business nearly a decade ago. Since then, Lenovo has steadily grown its business to become the biggest PC maker by some measures.

Now, Mr. Yang said, the company has the scale and capital necessary to ramp up investments in the U.S. market. Last year, Lenovo released its 'Yoga,' a touch-screen PC whose hinge allows the screen and keyboard to be bent into various positions, such as from a standard clamshell laptop to a tablet, with the keyboard folded beneath the screen. This year, it unveiled a 27-inch touchscreen desktop whose stand can fold inward, allowing it to lay flat and be used like a touchscreen table.

With products like the Yoga, Lenovo has been able to grab more than 40% of the U.S. retail market of computers priced at least $900 that run Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows 8. 'We are making a lot of progress,' he added, noting that Lenovo has outgrown its competitors for the past couple of quarters.

But he said there is opportunity in the high-end. Apple Inc. (AAPL) is considered a premium brand whose designs and manufacturing quality are rarely matched. Mr. Yang said he wants Lenovo to expand its consumer brand and to increase competition with Apple and other high-end computer designs later this year.

'We still have room to enhance the design,' he said. 'To develop premium products, you have to drive innovation and driving the texture and engineering to extreme.'

Lenovo is up to the challenge, he said, adding that every time he has seen a prototype product, 'I just think it's amazing.' But when the final device comes out, it isn't as nice-looking as the prototype because cost concerns led the company to reduce the device's quality. He says that will change this year.

Eventually, he said, Lenovo will offer a smartphone for the U.S. market. But to get there, he said, Lenovo has grown its share of devices in emerging markets, where the Lenovo brand is stronger. He said Apple and Samsung Electronics Co.'s (005930.SE, SSNHY) war chests are much larger, allowing them to do things in parallel and sell many devices into the market. He also noted the iPhone maker does have a home-field advantage.

But he said he believes there is opportunity in the U.S. market, and he will approach it slowly by building the Lenovo brand with its consumer PCs like the Yoga and Horizon.

'We can't do everything together; we don't have that much money,' he said. 'But the smartphone is probably the next step.'

He said he isn't concerned about the recent scrutiny of other Chinese tech companies, like Huawei Technologies Co., and said Lenovo has focused on growing its business while being as transparent as it can.

'This is a normal situation,' he said. 'In every country, they are more comfortable with working with a local company.'

But he hopes the U.S. won't take a protectionist stance, adding the Chinese government has purchased many American products even when equivalent local ones exist.

For Lenovo's part, he said a recent decision to open a manufacturing plant in North Carolina will not only bring more Lenovo offices to American shores, but it will help meet its customer's needs by producing special configurations of desktop and laptop computers much quicker, and more efficiently, than shipping them from overseas.

The manufacturing plans will also create as many as 300 jobs, and possibly more, he said. 'If we can have more market share, if we can have more customers, definitely we will increase employees.'

The strategy of manufacturing specialized desktops, laptops and servers closer to customers isn't just a U.S. phenomenon. He said Lenovo has also built facilities in Japan, India and Brazil, and it's considering more as it seeks to please customers and grow research and development for individual markets.

'For Lenovo, scale is a key consideration,' he said. 'We are now big enough to provide this service to our customers.'