CCI Lenovo sales hold steady

Even after Apple computers became available through the Carolina Computing Initiative in 2011, Lenovo — one of UNC’s primary technology vendors — has kept a significant share of UNC’s student market.

Lenovo, which outgrew the overall market in the third quarter of the 2013 fiscal year for the 18th quarter in a row, maintains a supportive relationship with the University, UNC officials said.

The company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Morrisville and offers computers and tablets to UNC students through CCI, is the world’s largest personal computer supplier to education markets, according to International Data Corporation, a technology market analyst group.

Jason Mooneyham, executive director for U.S. public sector sales at Lenovo, said higher-education markets play an integral role in Lenovo’s success.

“College campuses — both student and institutional buyers — are certainly a large market for us,” he said.

Still, after UNC began offering Apple computers in 2011, Lenovo’s share of the student market at the University decreased slightly.

The first year, about half of the computers purchased through CCI were Apple, as opposed to Lenovo. This year, only 40 percent were Lenovo models.

Priscilla Alden, assistant vice chancellor for user support and engagement for UNC’s Information Technology Services, said CCI began selling Apple models in 2011 because many students had expressed interest. The number of students that purchased laptops through CCI increased significantly after they began offering MacBooks.

“Students were really asking for Macs … so it was really students’ desires, why we went to Macs,” she said.

But Dave Eckert, Dispatch Services manager for ITS, said he doesn’t think that UNC’s decision to offer MacBooks had a negative impact on Lenovo sales.

“The number of people buying through Carolina Computing Initiative went up significantly when we brought Apple into the program,” he said. “Bringing Apple in wasn’t completely at Lenovo’s expense. It was bringing new people in.”

And UNC and Lenovo still have a strong relationship, Alden said.

“They’re very quick to respond if we start seeing an issue, (because) one of the things that we’ve seen with vendors is that something is going to break at some point,” she said.

Eckert said UNC’s relationship with Lenovo allows both parties to collaborate before Lenovo’s products are sent to a wider market. Students, faculty and staff often test their products before sale.

“We often get a sneak peek in products that they’re looking at bringing to market, and we can provide feedback both from the viewpoint of IT people in the education market as well as (bringing) students in to give feedback on different designs,” he said.

Most student feedback Eckert said he has seen about Lenovo has been positive.

Some students said they prefer Lenovo models to the Apple offerings.

“I grew up using Windows, and I’m a lot more comfortable using it than I am with Mac products,” said Joey McCracken, a UNC freshman.

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