Interface distributes Lenovo netbook in UK

Birmingham-based distributor bags early shipments of Chinese vendor's first netbook offering

Interface Solutions International (ISI) has snapped up all available stock of Lenovo's Ideapad S10 netbook and is currently the UK's only distributor with the product.

The vendor's first forays into the netbook space have arrived in the UK amid much fanfare. The S10 model is aimed at the education space and ISI is also encouraging its VARs to sell the product into the SME and consumer markets. The distributor will be selling it at about £238, plus VAT.

Netbooks have been one of 2008's success stories with the popularity of model's including the Asus Eee PC and Acer's Aspire One helping shore up a shaky PC market. Gartner predicts shipments will top five million this year, rising to eight million in 2009 and reaching 50 million by 2012.

ISI indicated issues with stock availability of other vendors' netbook offerings, such as Samsung, will enable it to cash in the run-up to Christmas. The distributor's Lenovo business development manager Adam Wilcox said: "The netbook market is growing rapidly to form a significant part of the overall PC market and this represents significant sales opportunities for resellers.

"We are encouraging resellers to push this product into education establishments, SMEs and out to consumers. With all available stocks of Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10, arguably the best netbook on the market today, we are uniquely placed to support the reseller community. Rival netbook manufacturers do have similar products, but unfortunately availability of stock is heavily limited.”