If you were surprised to see Ashton Kutcher play the role of Steve Jobs in the recent Jobs biopic, you might find this even more surprising. Kutcher has taken his love for tech from the big screen to the real world, as Lenovo has hired him to work for the company as a “product engineer”.
Lenovo says that Kutcher’s new position will have him “work with the company’s engineering teams around the world to develop and market the Yoga line of tablets by providing input and decision-making into design, specifications, software and usage scenarios.” While it’s easy to assume Kutcher will simply act as a celebrity endorser regardless of what Lenovo says, who knows, maybe he’ll actually be involved with company design decisions. The concept of Ashton Kutcher secretly being an expert designer that single handedly leads Lenovo to greatness makes me happy to think about.
Either way, Kutcher seems pretty excited to be on board:
This partnership with Lenovo brings together my love of technology and design that makes your life better. I can’t wait to dig in and help Lenovo develop future mobile computing products, starting with the Yoga Tablet. Lenovo is all about innovation and strong leadership. Entrepreneurship is part of their DNA, and I couldn’t ask for a better fit.
Lenovo, of course, is also happy:
Ashton Kutcher’s authentic, creative appetite for technology and keen consumer insight combined with our innovation engine make this a very natural and powerful partnership. This partnership goes beyond traditional bounds by deeply integrating him into our organization as a product engineer as we look at developing the next wave of products. As we continue to push into new PC Plus product areas and lead in multimode computing, Ashton will help us break new ground by challenging assumptions, bringing new perspective and contributing his technical expertise to Yoga Tablet and other devices.
Look for a sprinkle of Ashton Kutcher in Lenovo’s products over the next few years.