Lenovo Group, one of the largest makers of personal computers in the world, announced that it would cease using IBM brand name two years ahead of schedule. The main reason for dropping the legendary brand-name already in 2008 is named to be a good acceptance and recognition of “Lenovo” and “Think” trademarks by customers.

“By making substantial progress on all of our critical priorities over the past few quarters, we’re now a stronger, healthier company. One important sign of this progress is our decision to completely transition our Think products from the IBM brand to the Lenovo brand two years earlier than planned. Concurrently, we’ve recently launched our own ‘Best Engineered PCs’ advertising campaign and global sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games to promote our brand worldwide,” said William J. Amelio, Lenovo’s president and chief executive officer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lenovo could sell IBM-branded desktops and laptops till the year 2010. But since Lenovo has been selling both IBM- and Lenovo-branded machines for some time now, it does not make a lot of sense to promote both trademarks. Moreover, overall high recognition of Think brand-name may actually increase the value of Lenovo own brand.

In fact, all the software for ThinkPad notebooks is currently supplied under Lenovo and Think trademarks, whereas IBM’s brand is nowhere to be found. Modern ThinkPad laptops also carry only Lenovo name on them.

IBM is expected to continue providing services and warranty for Lenovo Think customers.