Chinese PC-maker Lenovo expects mobile Internet products to account for as much as 80 percent of its sales in five years, the firm’s CEO said yesterday. “Even today, notebook sales already are higher than desktops,” CEO Yang Yuanqing told Associated Press in an interview. “Mobile Internet products are going to be 70 to 80 percent of our sales within three to five years.” To support this growth, Yang said Lenovo plans this year to focus on promoting its mobile Internet products in emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Its home market currently accounts for nearly half of Lenovo’s global sales but it is reportedly facing increased competition in the PC space from the likes of HP and Dell, which are creating products tailored to Chinese customers.

In its latest quarter, Lenovo said that sales in India and other emerging markets rose 52 percent from a year ago, far ahead of the 13 percent sales growth reported in mature regions such as the US and Western Europe. Yang said Lenovo has no plans for foreign acquisitions but is ready to look at any deals that fit its strategic plans. Lenovo, which acquired IBM’s PC business in 2005, says its global market share last year rose to 9 percent, its highest level to date. However, the firm has focused on growing its mobile business in recent quarters, and launched one of the industry’s first-ever ‘smartbooks’ in January.