Lenovo Makes First Software Buy to Expand in Cloud

Grazed from Bloomberg. Author: Editorial Staff.

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world’s second-largest maker of personal computers, agreed to buy Stoneware Inc. of the U.S. to gain cloud-computing products in its first acquisition of a software vendor.

Stoneware produces software used mainly by governments and schools to synchronize data across multiple mobile devices, Mark Cohen, a Lenovo vice president, said in a telephone interview. The closely held, Indianapolis-based company has 60 employees, he said, without disclosing terms…

The purchase is Lenovo’s second in less than three weeks as Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing expands the company to take on rivals including Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. in smartphones, tablets and Internet-ready televisions. Lenovo will use Stoneware to build a “public cloud” for consumers, Cohen said. The service would compete with Apple’s iCloud, which lets users store music, movies and applications and access them by the Internet and wirelessly…

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