History

The ThinkPad was developed to compete with Toshiba and Compaq, who had created the first two portable notebooks, with an emphasis on sales to the Harvard Business School. The task of making a notebook was given to the Yamato Facility in Japan, led by Arimasa Naitoh, a Japanese man who joined IBM in the 1970s, now dubbed the "father" of ThinkPad.

The name "ThinkPad" was a product of IBM's corporate history and culture. Thomas J. Watson, Sr., first introduced "THINK" as an IBM slogan in the 1920s. With every minicomputer and mainframe IBM installed (almost all were leased – not sold), a blue plastic sign was placed atop the operator's console, with the text "Think" printed on an aluminum plate.

For decades IBM had also distributed small notepads with the word "THINK" emblazoned on a brown leatherette cover to customers and employees. The name "ThinkPad" was suggested by IBM employee Denny Wainwright, who had one such notepad in his pocket. The name was opposed by the IBM corporate naming committee as all the names for IBM computers were numeric at that time, but "ThinkPad" was kept due to praise from journalists and the public.

Early modelsedit

In April 1992, IBM announced the first ThinkPad model, the 700, later renamed the 700T after the release of three newer models, the 300, (new) 700 and 700C in October 1992.

This machine was the first product produced under IBM's new "differentiated product personality" strategy, a collaboration between Sapper and Tom Hardy, head of the corporate IBM Design Program. Development of the 700C also involved a close working relationship between Sapper and Kazuhiko Yamazaki, lead notebook designer at IBM's Yamato Design Center in Japan and liaison between Sapper and Yamato engineering.

This 1990–1992 "pre-Internet" collaboration between Italy and Japan was facilitated by a special Sony digital communications system that transmitted high-res images over telephone lines. This system was established in several key global Design Centers by Hardy so IBM designers could visually communicate more effectively and interact directly with Sapper for advice on their projects. For his innovative design management leadership during ThinkPad development, Hardy was named "innovator of the Year 1992" by PC Magazine.

The first ThinkPad tablet, a PenPoint-based device formally known as the IBM 2521 ThinkPad, was positioned as a developer's release. The ThinkPad tablet became available for purchase by the general public in October of the same year.

IBM marketed the ThinkPad creatively, through methods such as early customer pilot programs, numerous pre-launch announcements, and an extensive loaner program designed to showcase the product's strengths and weaknesses, including loaning a machine to archaeologists excavating the ancient Egyptian city of Leontopolis. The resulting report documented the ThinkPad's excellent performance under difficult conditions; "The ThinkPad is an impressive machine, rugged enough to be used without special care in the worst conditions Egypt has to offer."

The first ThinkPads were very successful, collecting more than 300 awards for design and quality.

Acquisition by Lenovoedit

In 2005, Chinese technology company Lenovo purchased the IBM personal computer business and the ThinkPad as a flagship brand along with it. Speaking about the purchase of IBM's personal computer division, Liu Chuanzhi said, "We benefited in three ways from the IBM acquisition. We got the ThinkPad brand, IBM's more advanced PC manufacturing technology and the company's international resources, such as its global sales channels and operation teams. These three elements have shored up our sales revenue in the past several years."

Although Lenovo acquired the right to use the IBM brand name for five years after its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business, Lenovo only used it for three years.

Manufacturingedit

The majority of ThinkPad computers since the 2005 acquisition of the brand by Lenovo have been made in China, but Lenovo also employs ~300 people at a combined manufacturing and distribution center near its American headquarters. Each device made in this facility is labeled with a red-white-and-blue sticker proclaiming "Whitsett, North Carolina."

In 2012, Lenovo produced a short run of special edition anniversary ThinkPads in Yonezawa, Yamagata, in partnership with NEC, as part of a larger goal to move manufacturing from China to Japan.

In 2014, although sales rose 5.6 percent from the previous year, Lenovo lost its position as the top commercial notebook maker. However, the company celebrated a milestone in 2015 with the shipment of the 100 millionth unit of its ThinkPad line.