Lenovo shows off prototype smart glasses, seek partnerships for IoT and wearables

Despite having very little mobile presence in the North America and Western Europe, Lenovo is easily one of the most powerful giants in the mobile world due to its dominant position in China. Lenovo is equally important in the PC world as well, but beyond that? As the world evolves past computers and mobile devices, Lenovo is hoping to expand into new avenues such as wearables and Internet of Things.

Earlier today, Lenovo showed off a new smart glasses prototype at a special event in Beijing, which is rather reminiscent of Google Glass. One noticeable difference, however, is that the battery is actually contained in a unit found around the user’s neck. More than likely there are other hardware differences too, but Lenovo is currently mum on the details, though it promises to reveal more in October.

Just because they don’t have any immediate in-house products ready doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have ambitions for wearables and connected devices in 2014. In order to jump start the revolution, the company has kicked off its new NBD (new business development) platform, which basically offers funding, hardware research, manufacturing and logistic support to would-be partners. The effort is currently aimed at delivering products for the Chinese market, though it could eventually be targeted at other markets as well.

[quote qtext=”Right now there are too many kinds of devices you can develop for the Internet of Things. It’s too rich. Not one company can do it all.” qperson=”Chen Xudong” qsource=”Lenovo senior vice president” qposition=”center”]

In fact, Lenovo’s first commercial “smart glasses” device will be released in August or September as part of its NBD program. The hardware is actually produced by U.S. Smart glasses maker Vuzix, but the M100 will be co-branded and sold throughout China as a product for business users. The M100 is powered by Android 4.0.4 and offers a 1GHz dual-core processor and will be sold for 8000 yuan, or about $1298.

Bottom-line, Lenovo continues to aggressively push forward into new markets, both through partnerships and through in-house development. It will be interesting to see where the company is heading over the course of the next few years, and we are equally curious about what role Motorola might play in these future plans.

What do you think of Lenovo’s Glass prototype or their business direction in general? Let us know in the comments.