LENOVO Group Ltd will launch own brand televisions equipped with Internet functions by the end of this year, and has also set up a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group.

The foray into the Internet TV market marks an expansion by China's biggest personal computer maker which also hopes to tap the mobile Internet and digital sectors via its venture with SMG.

"We will provide consumers with products and services covering all devices from Internet TV, computer, tablet computer to mobile phone," Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's chief executive, said yesterday in a press conference held in Shanghai.

The company plans to launch its tablet computer, LePad, in China later this month to challenge Apple's iPad in the domestic market.

Lenovo is preparing to launch its own brand Internet TV by the end of this year, officials said but they declined to reveal more details.

The Internet TV business may boost Lenovo's revenue and profit, unlike the PC industry which has a relatively low profit margin of less than 10 percent, market observers said.

BesTV, a new media subsidiary of SMG, will provide content for Lenovo's devices under the joint venture, in which SMG holds 51 percent with Lenovo taking the rest.

BesTV is the content provider for IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) users in Shanghai and the Chinese mainland.