Lenovo, which is pushing to grab the attention of U.S. consumers, has developed a new online sales tool.
The eLounge is a 3-D world where consumers can create an avatar -- including customizing their appearance and dress -- and then wander through a series of virtual showrooms, testing Lenovo laptops.
The No. 4 PC maker has been testing the eLounge since the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. It's now gearing up to promote it to drive more traffic to the virtual world.
Although the eLounge is a work in progress, executives at the Chinese PC maker, which has one of its world headquarters in Morrisville, N.C., are upbeat about its prospects. People who wandered into the eLounge during the electronics show typically spent 10 to 15 minutes there.
"We know the concept has legs," said Ajit Sivadasan, Lenovo's vice president and general manager of global eCommerce and sales.
In addition to the playful aspects of the eLounge, it also allows shoppers to have a conversation with fellow browsers or, during business hours, with Lenovo's sales staff, via computer. No special hardware is needed.
An unusual aspect is the eLounge's "spatial audio" technology. Because of it, a person on the other side of the showroom can't be heard, but as he or she moves closer -- accomplished by pushing the "W" button on the keyboard -- the volume gradually increases.
"It's very much like a real-world environment," said Sivadasan.
The eLounge isn't for everybody. The software that must be downloaded isn't yet compatible with Apple computers. Users with older browsers also may be stymied.
Lenovo teamed up with a small software group at Nortel Networks, the Canadian telecommunications equipment with operations in RTP, which used its web.alive software to create the eLounge.
Software from a telecommunications company? "Many people don't realize it, but Nortel is a major software shop," said Nic Sauriol, project leader of web.alive, which is based in Ottawa. "A lot of the value we provide, the things we do, are actually software.
"Fundamentally, telecommunications is communicating at a distance. Fundamentally, web.alive is about ... allowing users to connect with other users" over the Internet.
And it's no accident that eLounge's visuals are reminiscent of a video game. Nortel has licensed the Unreal Engine, the enormously popular graphics system created by Cary video game company Epic Games, for web.alive and the eLounge. It's the first time the Unreal Engine has been used for an e-Commerce application, said Dana Cowley, spokeswoman for the 110-employee company.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
Post new comment