ThinkPad For his innovative design management leadership during ThinkPad development, Hardy was named "innovator of the Year 1992" by PC Magazine. Since 1992, the ThinkPad design has been regularly updated, developed and refined over the years by Sapper and the respective teams at IBM and later Lenovo, which included Yamazaki, Tom Takahashi, Sam Lucente and, since 1995, David Hill, Vice President of User Experience & Design, who leads and manages the design/user experience of ThinkPad. Hill's approach to maintaining the evolution of Sapper's original ThinkPad design is analogous to how Porsche manages evolution of the classic 911. The fold-out butterfly keyboard,
Lenovo companies said in a statement that they would establish a new company called Lenovo NEC Holdings, to be registered in the Netherlands. NEC received US$175 million in Lenovo stock. Lenovo was to own a 51% stake in the joint venture, while NEC would have 49%. Lenovo has a five-year option to expand its stake in the joint venture. This joint venture was intended to boost Lenovo's worldwide sales by expanding its presence in Japan, a key market for personal computers. NEC spun off its personal computer business into the joint venture. As of 2010, NEC controlled about 20% of Japan's