Microsoft’s relationship with Lenovo is starting to deteriorate

Lenovo and Microsoft are business partners, but they’re far from friends. It was easy for Microsoft to be friendly with PC manufacturers like Lenovo back when it didn’t have its own hardware, but with the introduction of its Surface tablets, things got a bit more complicated, and they got WAY more complicated when Microsoft unveiled the Surface Book. Now it’s gotten to the point where Lenovo has flat out refused to resell any of Microsoft’s Surface Pro products. 

Even though their new joint ad campaign is quite amicable, Microsoft and Lenovo aren’t exactly bosom buddies. When Microsoft asked Lenovo in September to sell its Surface Pro products, Lenovo declined the company’s offer, Lenovo COO Gianfranco Lanci told a group of reporters at the Canalys Channels Forum. Unlike Dell and HP, both of which chose to be Microsoft Surface Pro resellers, Lenovo views the hybrid laptop as direct competition to its own devices. Lanci also admitted to being “a little bit careful” about how Lenovo conducts business with Microsoft due to the companies’ conflicts of interest. This makes sense given the similarities Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 and Lenovo’s IdeaPad Miix 700. Unfortunately for Lenovo, Microsoft just unveiled the clearly superior Surface Pro 4. It isn’t just the Surface Pro that has Microsoft in conflict with its partners. The company’s foray into notebook manufacturing did not sit well with OEMs. Dell, which sells the Surface Pro, will not be selling the Surface Book, Dell President of Enterprise Solutions Marius Haas told The Register. In the same report, HP, which will sell the laptop, echoed Haas’ sentiments.