Ashton Kutcher se la cree: Hace de Steve Jobs para Lenovo

Ashton Kutcher’s Next Act: Product Engineer



U.S. actor Ashton Kutcher presented Lenovo’s first multimode tablet, the Yoga Tablet, Oct. 29.

Ashton Kutcher may have played Apple's Steve Jobs on the big screen, but his next role has him firmly in the PC camp.

Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group is hiring Mr. Kutcher to help design its tablets, its latest ploy to market its brand to U.S. consumers.

After starring in various TV shows from “That ‘70s Show” to “Two and a Half Men,” as well as the biopic “Jobs” on Apple’s late leader, Mr. Kutcher will add a new title to his resume as Lenovo product engineer.

Lenovo said Mr. Kutcher “will work with the company’s engineering teams around the world to develop and market the Yoga line of tablets by providing input and decision-making into design, specifications, software and usage scenarios.”

This isn’t the first time for Lenovo to hire a U.S. celebrity. Earlier this year, the company used National Basketball Association star Kobe Bryant in its ad campaign to promote the K900 flagship smartphone in China and some other markets.

But Lenovo insists that Mr. Kutcher’s role will be very different from those of any other celebrities it has hired in the past for promotional purposes.

“Ashton will be actually coming into our labs and attending meetings with our engineers,” said a Lenovo spokesman. Mr. Kutcher of course won’t be working for Lenovo eight hours a day, but he will actually share his opinions with Lenovo engineers developing new tablets, the spokesman said.

The spokesman declined to disclose how much Lenovo is paying Mr. Kutcher for his role.

Perhaps more than his input on tablet designs, Lenovo could use some of Mr. Kutcher’s social media savvy. Mr. Kutcher, who has more than 15 million Twitter followers, tweeted Tuesday: “Really excited to help shape future of tech with @Lenovo.”

Lenovo first came under the spotlight outside China in 2005 when it acquired International Business Machine’s PC business. Since then its PC business has expanded and earlier this year, the company finally overtook Hewlett-Packard to become the world’s largest PC maker. Still, when it comes to brand recognition among consumers outside China, Lenovo still has a long way to go.

Scene WJS

Posted in: CEO,gestión,Lenovo