Lenovo and Ashton Kutcher to release new smartphones together this year

Back in 2013, Lenovo thought that it would be a good idea to hire celebrity Ashton Kutcher to be one of their product engineers. This is not the first time we’ve seen tech companies use celebrities to help raise awareness for their products. In the past we’ve seen BlackBerry hire Alicia Keys, Intel with will.i.am, and so on. However it seems that unlike previous celebrity endorsements, Kutcher’s role at Lenovo is more than just providing them with a pretty face. 

Yes, you read that right. The star of “Two and Half Men” and “Jobs” is designing a line of special-edition phones for Lenovo to be launched later this year, according to Lenovo Chief Marketing Officer David Roman. In October, Lenovo hired Kutcher as its newest product engineer to develop and promote the company’s Yoga Tablet line and other mobile products. “This partnership with Lenovo brings together my love of technology and design that makes your life better. I can’t wait to dig in and help Lenovo develop future mobile computing products,” Kutcher said at the time of the announcement. Though partnerships between tech companies and celebrities aren’t new (some notable examples include BlackBerry and Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga and Polaroid), Kutcher appears to be lending more than just his name and face to the gig.