Lenovo Sells More Smart Phones, Tablets than PCs

Lenovo says it is becoming a "PC Plus" company. In its most recent quarter, Lenovo ’s  sales of smart phones and tablets surpassed PCs for the first time. During the first quarter, Lenovo became the world’s fourth largest smart phone supplier and recorded the fastest growth among the top five vendors, growing 132 percent. 

In China, Lenovo is now the second largest smart phone company, the company says. 

One might point to several elements of that story. The rise of computing devices other than PCs, the shift of technology supply in the direction of Chinese suppliers and a concomitant retail pricing pressure on existing suppliers are some of the themes one might point to.

Another apparently non-related item, namely Cisco's most recently quarterly report, points to another broad theme, namely a shift in global technology leadership from broadly diversified firms to specialists. 

Nobody yet is suggesting Cisco is going the way of Nortel Networks, one of a handful of firms that once lead global telecom infrastructure sales by supplying a broad range of products, but went bankrupt. 

Still, these days, being a supplier of lots of infrastructure products, with a coherent fit between thenm, is a much-tougher feat. 

In today's market, most firms have found it much easier to focus on a segment: mobile, fixed network only, switches and routers, radios or optical transmission. 

Sooner or later, Cisco might have to respond to critics who say it operates in too wide a range of businesses. And that will mean a smaller Cisco, one might argue.