14 DAY TRIAL // You probably remember Lenovo hired famous Hollywood actor, Ashton Kutcher a while ago, as the brand ambassador / product engineer for its line of Yoga tablets. Well, it turns out Ashton will be doing more than that, as he will be actively involved in the development and design of new tablet models.
A few days ago, new information surfaced via website Recode (launched by the AllThingsD editorial team) claimed Ashton was taking his role at Lenovo quite seriously by working on a soon-to-be-released “special edition” smartphone line.
The report went on to say that the Two and a Half Men star is helping with the design of a new line of smartphones, expected to arrive sometime in 2014.
Recode directly quoted Lenovo Chief Marketing Officer, David Roman, so we assumed the information was for real. Well it turns out, Kutcher is working on something, just not smartphones.
It makes sense actually, given the fact the A-list actor was hired to be brand ambassador for a tablet line, that he is actually supervising the development of new tablets and not smartphones.
Pocket-Lint has managed to get in touch with Lenovo and receive clarifications on the matter. So there you have it, folks. Ashton Kutcher is a tablet man and he is working hard to bring you an innovative new line of slates, not smartphones.
“The development agreement Lenovo has with Ashton is for tablets only, and not for smartphones,” explained Ray Gorman, director of external communications at Lenovo.
Before becoming the idol of millions of TV fans, by starring in shows and movies like “Punk’d,” “That 70s Show,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Dude Where’s My Car” and “Jobs,” Kutcher studied biochemical engineering and also took the time to co-found tech venture capital group A-Grade Investments.
However, at this point it’s a little bit unclear whether Kutcher is actually working on a successor to the Yoga line or developing a line of “special edition” tablets with Lenovo.
Celebrities going into tech isn’t exactly news. For example, HTC managed to get Robert Downey Jr onboard, while Polaroid signed a deal with idiosyncratic singer Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys served as a spokesperson for the failing BlackBerry brand.
However, Kutcher is one of the few celebrities to break the boundaries of spokesmanship and take up an active role in the development of the products he’s supposed to be promoting.