Lenovo sells its products in around 160 countries. Lenovo's principal facilities are in Beijing and Morrisville, with research centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Wuhan in China, Yamato in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and Morrisville in the U.S. It also has a joint venture with NEC, Lenovo NEC Holdings, which produces personal computers for the Japanese market. Lenovo was founded in Beijing in November 1984 as Legend and was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1988. Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computer business in 2005 and agreed to acquire its Intel-based server business in 2014. Lenovo entered the smartphone market in
Lenovo smartphones The "Le" series of devices, including the LePhone, LePad, and the LeTV were sold under the "idea" brand outside of China. The LePhone was thus known as the "ideaphone" in other markets. The "Le" pre-fix means "happy" in Mandarin Chinese and this branding is only used in Mainland China. In early 2013, Lenovo signed an endorsement deal with Kobe Bryant. Lenovo says Bryant was selected in order to further internationalize its brand while appealing to young consumers. Bryant made numerous appearances on behalf of Lenovo and was its main smartphone marketing campaign of the year in Asia. Lenovo sold its