Big Company Enters I-Café Business

Lenovo, the China company that bought IBM's PC and laptop business, opened its first Internet café and gaming hub in the Philippines.  Named Lenovo Gaming Zone, the new set-up seeks to provide an intense high-end gaming experience to online and networked games enthusiasts.

The company's first i-café is located at the heart of SM Megamall Cyberzone and it is operated in partnership with VillMan Computers and Intel Philippines

It has fifty-four (54} gaming and net surfing stations equipped with Lenovo’s high performance gaming desktop – the IdeaCentre K320. With features including the Intel Core i7 processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Nvidia GeForce GT 320 1GB video card and 640GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD, the IdeaCentre K320 is presented as an optimal gaming machine. The IdeaCentre K320 is not yet commercially available in the country.

The press releases about the event mentioned that according to survey, sixty (60%) percent of young Filipinos ranked online gaming as top of their internet priorities and that the opening of the Lenovo Gaming Zone will reach out to this market. Lenovo, for its part, intends to expand its presence in the Philippines PC gaming market through PC models that feature technology for enhanced performance  and gaming capabilities.

With the languishing i-café industry nowadays, how should the small i-café owners look at this development? Will this trigger the coming of more big companies into the business or will such set-up remain a showcase for their products? We wish for the latter to happen and for current and future i-café owners to learn some lessons from them on how the business must be run.