Lenovo Group Ltd hired actor Ashton Kutcher to help the company design new tablets, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report also said that Kutcher helped Lenovo unveil a new tablet line that would have a longer battery life than Apple's iPad. The move to hire Kutcher was a strategy to win users from Apple Inc through celebirty endorsement. One of Lenovo's competitors. HTC, previously tapped Robert Downey Jr. for its smartphone line.
David Roman, Lenovo chief marketing officer, said at a press conference in Los Angeles that Kutcher would be providing input on design software specifications for its Yoga tablet line, including usage scenarios. However, the details of Kutcher's contract with Lenovo was not disclosed, according to an email by Lenovo spokesperson Brion Tingler.
Kutcher also unveiled Yoga today. Yoga is a tablet that boasted an 18-hour battery life and 5 megapixel camera. Yoga runs on Google Inc.'s Adroid 4.2 system.
Lenovo had been falling behind Apple and Samsung Electronics Co, its two major competitors in tablet shipment. Lenovo sold 2.2 million units last year, Lenovo had planned to increase global shipments to 10 million units this year.
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