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Ashton Kutcher's latest role [National, The (United Arab Emirates)](National, The (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Ashton Kutcher may have played the late Steve Jobs on the big screen – but can he pull off a similar role in real life? One year after the Hollywood actor starred as the Apple visionary in the film Jobs, Kutcher has made new waves in the tech world with his employment at the Chinese firm Lenovo. The company appointed Kutcher as "product engineer" last October, and on Thursday launched a range of tablets the actor is said to have had a direct hand in developing. The range includes the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, which has an inbuilt projector and 13-inch screen, and is tipped to boost Lenovo's share of the Middle East tablet market. But the launch has reignited debate over whether Kutcher's involvement with Lenovo is anything more than a publicity stunt. Can a celebrity really help to design a product as well as endorse it? For Aymar de Lencquesaing, Lenovo's senior vice president, the answer is a resounding yes. He says Kutcher was behind the inclusion of a "subwoofer" speaker in the €499 (Dh2,315) Yoga Tablet 2 Pro – a feature the company says is unique in the tablet market. The company has also updated its 8-inch and 10-inch tablets, developed with feedback from focus groups that Kutcher ran. "You might think that this is all an act because, after all, he's an actor," says Mr de Lencquesaing. "But he's genuinely excited about this stuff." The executive pointed to Kutcher's experience as an investor in technology firms, including location app Foursquare, the room rentals site Airbnb, and taxi service Uber. Oliver Ebel, Lenovo's vice president in the Middle East and Africa, says the hire of "tech-savvy" Kutcher is about more than a celebrity lending their face to a product. "This is not just a marketing trick," Mr Ebel says. "He's really engaged and involved in the day-to-day work with the product guys … It's something very different from just a normal celebrity being a brand ambassador." Kutcher is part of a trend in celebrities being employed by tech firms to help develop products: the Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys was employed in 2013 as creative director for BlackBerry; Lady Gaga landed the same job title at Polaroid in 2010; while will.i.am joined Intel as "director of creative innovation". Tim Bajarin, an American technology consultant, wrote off many such relationships as "gimmicks". But he says Lenovo's relationship with Kutcher is different. The actor has experience in engineering, for example, having studied the subject at university before dropping out to pursue a career in modelling. "I am told that Kutcher was deeply involved in the design of these tablets. He sat through many strategy meetings with the team and even did his own personal research," says Mr Bajarin. Kutcher – whose fiancée Mila Kunis gave birth to their first child last month – called the Yoga tablet range "my other new baby", speaking via video link at last Thursday's launch event in London. He said he had travelled regularly to Beijing to meet Lenovo's product development team, as well as secretly exchanging product prototypes through the mail when designing the tablets. Such an involvement shows that Kutcher's role at Lenovo is different from other celebrity endorsements, says the US-based technology analyst Rob Enderle. "Virtually every other celebrity effort like this has been a gimmick, but Kutcher isn't," Mr Enderle says. "Rather than appearing as a confused ineffective spokesperson he advocates the products much like Steve Jobs would, because they are partially the result of his efforts." But fellow US technology analyst Jeff Kagan is not convinced. "No industry leader would let a non-industry personality steer the direction of the product line. It simply does not happen," he says. With the global tablet market in decline, Lenovo needs all the help it can get in challenging rivals like Apple and Samsung. Lenovo's Mr de Lencquesaing says that, despite the global trend, the company expects growth in tablet sales in the Middle East and Africa, as well as in its wider business. "In the Middle East we're growing by leaps and bounds," he says. "We're growing revenues well over 50 per cent per year." Omar Kassim, the founder of the UAE-based online retailer JadoPado, says it is feasible that Lenovo could increase its Middle East market share in tablets, notebook computers and smartphones. He points to Lenovo's recent acquisition of Motorola from Google as aiding this. "The upcoming quarters look positive for Lenovo to gain more share across categories both in the UAE as well other markets in the region," he says. But whether a celebrity like Kutcher can help make this a reality remains to be seen. Time will tell whether the actor will be remembered best for Dude, Where's My Car? – or as the Steve Jobs of a new generation. [email protected] (c) 2014 s Abu Dhabi Media Company, All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |