Then lenovo puts in a few coins into R&D and takes the market slightly up from the low end. Which IBM gladly gives away because the margins aren't high enough..

Then lenovo puts in a few coins into R&D and takes the market slightly up from the low end. Which IBM gladly gives away because the margins aren't high enough... Then Lenovo puts a few more coins into R&D and takes the midrange. Which IBM gladly gives up because the margins aren't high enough... This has happened more than a few times across several industries - American cars, Japanese electronics, mainframe/mini/microcomputers, etc. EDIT: Also see apricot computer. Which did the /exact/ same thing - outsourced the production of it's "commodity" computers, losing its special sauce, and lucrative service contracts. It was gone in a flash. Sir John Harvey-Jones even did an episode of the UK show "the troubleshooter" on them. It's a sure way to make a quick buck this quarter, but horrible long term.