 Welcome to Newsdesk, I'm SiliconANGLE TV. For Thursday, October 11, 2012, I'm Kristen Folletti. According to some research data, Lenovo is the world's number one PC manufacturer now, stealing that title away from Dell. The Wall Street Journal says that this may not be enough and that they're looking for number one in mobility as well. How real is the need for Lenovo to diversify? Join us now with her breaking analysis is SiliconANGLE Newsdesk editor, Kristen Nicole. Welcome, Kristen. Good morning. Mark Risen-Hopkins and John Furrier attended the Intel Developer Forum. And they've spoken about the dominance of touchscreen computing throughout the show, even in the laptop and desktop forms. Lenovo's own hybrid tablet laptop machine seemed to impress PC computing in a demo yesterday. But do you see that as being enough to help them slide into that mobility market when all other PC manufacturers are doing the same thing? I think a key differentiator here is the fact that Lenovo was really going after a transitioning mobile strategy. So they're bridging that gap between PCs and tablets and the smartphone mobility craze and really looking for the type of device that will still perform all the functions that you need with a PC while also giving you the flexibility and mobility of a tablet. There have been a lot of concerns expressed by Congress and other governmental agencies concerning themselves with prospects of cyber war. Huawei has had a particular large target painted on their backs these last few weeks. Lenovo is also a Chinese manufacturer that has direct-to-consumer business lines. Are they going to be next? There's a possibility that there's going to be some concerns in targeting in this area. Lenovo doesn't have as much. They don't do as much government contracting. And they're really focusing on a consumer market. And they're hoping that that appeal will kind of override any congressional concerns here. So definitely a concern, something that may come up in the future. But right now, they seem to be doing OK. The IDC report shows Lenovo is the top-selling vendor beating out HP and Dell. This is a big change from a year ago when Lenovo took the number three spot just behind Dell and HP. What else was in the IDC report? They really looked at the PC market overall. And globally, it's not doing so well. It's fallen even more than the IDC expected it to in the past year. And just the fact that Lenovo was one of the few that was able to increase sales compared to HP and Dell, I believe, that they were the only vendor to increase sales in the US market specifically. So that really says a lot about what they're doing, what their strategy's been. They've been really working on HP and Dell taking, you know, creeping up. Last year, they overtook Acer. This year, it's HP and Dell. So it's really a big deal right now, particularly with the global PC market. And we've also seen sales kind of slide over the past year as the market is anticipating the Windows 8 release. So that drop was expected. But as the IDC report notes, the drop was bigger than they thought it was going to be. Lenovo has diverse computers and a strong transition strategy into the mobile space. They're coming out with new hybrid gadgets that act as either PCs or Windows tablets. What can you tell us about these new products? That goes back to this transition device. They want to pack as much functionality as they can. And I remember when I was looking at the iPad when it first came out, I was really hoping that it could replace my laptop for a lot of the functions I perform inside and outside of the house. And upon further review, realize that you still need the power that goes into a laptop to support the type of software that you need for work purposes. So for Lenovo to really be able to bridge this gap, it seems like a strategy that's working really well. I know the IdeaPad and some of their ultrabooks have been doing really well. There's one that rotates frontwards and backwards. And the IdeaPad links, it also has a removable screen kind of detaches into two completely separate gadgets. So it operates as a tablet as well as a notebook. So this seems to be a pretty good strategy. I know Dell and HP have both kind of entered the tablet market and it didn't go so well. HP's trying to figure out how they're going to get back into the tablet market and also diversifying on the enterprise side. But Lenovo's really been able to take over that consumer market. Where does Windows 8 fit into all of this? It has a really starring role in this story for the PC market overall. And Microsoft in particular, not only are they looking to revolutionize the software industry with Windows 8 kind of catch up to what's been taking place with the cloud-based web office type solutions, they're also looking to make more inroads with devices. So that means that Microsoft with Windows 8 is looking for a very diverse device strategy as well. And that's something that Lenovo has been doing well. And Microsoft, they're coming out with their own hardware now. So they're diversifying around Windows 8. They want it to be a cross-platform experience. They want it on Apple's iOS, Google's Android. They want it on their own Surface tablet and a number of other devices as well. So this is really going to be, Windows 8 could be a boost for the PC market. It could also be a boost for the tablet market. There's talk that Lenovo plans to start manufacturing in the US, specifically in Witset, North Carolina. Why is that a good move for Lenovo and how soon do you see the US factory opening? Well, it's a good move because Lenovo wants to, of course, increase sales in the US. Having made in the USA stamp on their devices is always a plus when they want to sell in the United States. So bringing some of that manufacturing closer to the US will cut down on certain costs for shipping devices, things of that nature and gives them better inroads to whatever they want to develop in the future as far as the US market is concerned. It's a big opportunity for them. Like I mentioned earlier, they've been able to grow increased sales in the US as opposed to their rivals. And similar to car manufacturers, branching out and opening manufacturing plants and factories in different parts of the world really has a significant impact on the supply chain and how their distribution channels and their partnerships can flourish from there. Well, Kristen, we appreciate you joining us this morning. Thanks so much for your time. You take care. Have a good day. For all the latest in-depth coverage and breaking analysis on tech innovation, keep up to date with Newsdesk on SiliconANGLE.tv.