The inside story of ThinkPad and its connection to Japan
David Bennett
CCO at Tenstorrent Inc - We make software, silicon and systems for AI, Machine Learning and RISC-V (and we're hiring!)
English/日本語
As the #1 Commercial Notebook in the world, I bet many of you are familiar with the ThinkPad. However, how many of you know that the unmistakable ThinkPad design is inspired by a Japanese Bento box?
ThinkPad is the best business laptop of all time and a foremost example of Lenovo’s vision of Smarter technology for all: empowering individuals and businesses on the planet with smarter technology tools. This is a story you can find in all of our marketing materials.
The true behind the scenes story is not as well-known. About 30 years ago, The ThinkPad was born in IBM’s Japan Yamato Lab just outside of Tokyo. Industrial designers from IBM looked to the Japanese bento box, which holds various foods within separate compartments. The original ThinkPad had similar dimensions to a bento box, and, on the inside, one would find its internal components arranged in a similar compartmentalized manner.
Since then ThinkPad has been mainly engineered in Japan. Even today, Lenovo has continued this tradition most recently with the X1 Carbon design and award winning keyboard the design.
That is what we are celebrating today – The #1 business Laptop in the world, from the #1 PC vendor in the world, continues to innovate the ThinkPad — one of the most celebrated technology brands in the world — and is firmly rooted in Japan.
https://www.lenovo.com/jp/ja/smarter/thinkpad-japanese-connection/
Not just born in Japan, but we now also manufacture some ThinkPad’s in Japan for our Japanese Customers. We are the only international PC vendor that has an end-to-end process in Japan – with the support of our joint venture partnership with NEC, ThinkPad’s are designed in Yokohama, manufactured in the NEC Personal Computer Yonezawa factory, supported in NEC PC’s Gunma Factory in case you ever need repair. We are the only vendor in all of Japan to design, develop, manufacture, distribute and support in Japan - We call this comprehensive commitment “Japan made and Support”
https://www.lenovo.com/jp/ja/japanmade
ビジネス用ノートPCとして世界ナンバーワンのThinkPadのデザインが実は日本のお弁当箱からヒントを得ていることを知っていますか。
ThinkPadはビジネスで活躍する個人を支える道具としてノートPCの理想を常に追い求めてきました。それはレノボの「Smarter Technology for all」の理念を具現化しています。このことはいろいろなマーケティング資料の中で語られてきたことですが、それほど知られていない裏話があります。ThinkPadは、30年ほど前日本にあったIBMの大和研究所で誕生しました。工業デザイナーは日本の弁当箱を見て、細かく区分けされた中にいろいろな料理が詰め込まれた姿をみてそこにヒントを得ました。オリジナルのThinkPadの外観はお弁当箱のような四角い形です。そして中は細かいパーツが整然とレイアウトされている点にも、お弁当との類似性を感じたのです。
それ以来、ThinkPadは主に日本で開発されてきました。世界で最も成功しているテクノロジーブランドの一つと言えるThinkPadは日本生まれなのです。 https://www.lenovo.com/jp/ja/smarter/thinkpad-japanese-connection/
日本で誕生しただけでなく、今や一部のモデルは日本にあるレノボとのジョイントベンチャーのNECパーソナルコンピュータ米沢工場で生産しています。また修理が必要になったときは同じくNECPCの群馬工場が修理を担当します。このOne Japanの体制を「Japan made and Support」と呼んでいます。 https://www.lenovo.com/jp/ja/japanmade
Yes I do remember the original bento box concept and also met the designer, exciting times.
Product leadership and partner business development for AI accelerators in the Cloud
4 年I was at NEC in those early days (US side with NEC Technologies) and even their offerings were moving mobility to smaller more capable devices so much so that the largest notebook supplier in the US for a bit of time was NEC, way before HP and Dell impacted the market. The innovation of ThinkPad put a line in the sand though of what a high end device people would want to have (if they could afford it) should be and the rest is history.