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Stephen Ward, the IBM PC executive who became the CEO of Lenovo last year, has stepped down and will be replaced by William Amelio, one of Dell's senior executives for Asia.

The change could bring some clouds over a merger that, so far, has gone generally better than expected. Some analysts felt cultural issues, branding and marketing differences would make it difficult for China's Lenovo to absorb IBM. Surprisingly, Lenovo has only lost a little combined market share in the transition.

Ward helped engineer the sale of IBM's PC unit to Lenovo in 2004. He will become a consultant and assist in the transition.

Although some believed that Ward would step down at some point, his retirement comes much quicker than anticipated, said Stephen Baker of NPD Techworld. Customers have viewed Ward as a key management figure in the new company.

"It is disappointing to see him leave at this point," Baker said. "There is a lot of integration work left to do. This will be a real tough sell for some people."
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Read More / Source: News.com