ThinkPad flex, stainless steel hinges, a biometric fingerprint reader, Client Security Solution, which improves security using a built-in Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and facilitates deployment in corporate environment, the ThinkVantage Technologies suite of computer management applications, and drain holes to help reduce damage to the keyboard and components from accidental spillage. The original design concept of ThinkPad was created in 1990 by Italy-based designer Richard Sapper, a corporate design consultant of IBM and, since 2005, Lenovo. Sapper is noted for the design of classic products such as the Tizio lamp for Artemide, office chair for Knoll, kitchenwares for Alessi and ballpoint
Lenovo were driven by the popularity of Apple's iPhone and Lenovo's desire to increase its market share in mainland China. Lenovo passed Apple to become the No. 2 provider of smartphones to the Chinese market in 2012. However, due to there being about 100 smartphone brands sold in China, this second only equated to a 10.4% market share. In May 2012, Lenovo announced an investment of US$793 million in the construction of a mobile phone manufacturing and R&D facility in Wuhan, China. On January 27, 2011, Lenovo formed a joint venture to produce personal computers with Japanese electronics firm NEC. The