Huawei Smartphone Launch Reflects New Confidence - Wall Street Journal

In a big leap forward Chinese handset maker Huawei launched its latest smartphone, the Ascend P6, at a high profile event Tuesday in central London. Previously Huawei has taken a more low-key approach. The predecessor to the Ascend P6, the P2, was launched at a side event at the Mobile World Congress. But senior company executives feel Tuesday's launch reflects higher levels of confidence in the new product, which they believe is strong enough to take on its biggest rivals. According to Shao Yang, chief marketing officer for Huawei Device Co. Ltd, the new metal-cased device is just 6.18 mm thick, thinner than its rivals (Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5 is 7.6mm Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Galaxy S4 7.9mm). Weighing just 120g, the smartphone features a 1.5GHz, quad-core ARM-based processor which is the company's own design. Sitting above the 4.7 inch high definition display is a 5 megapixel front-facing camera, complementing the 8 megapixel on the other side. The phone, designed in the company's London design center, runs Google Inc.'s Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" operating system, on top of which Huawei has its own Emotion User Interface. However, the newly-launched phone is not a fourth generation, LTE, device. Mr. Shao said an LTE version would be launched in October. The P6 will begin shipping to China from June and to Western Europe from July through Vodafone , Telefonica, Orange, H3G, Carphone Warehouse, TalkTalk, Media Markt & Saturn, TIM and online via Amazon and CDiscount with other markets to follow. Mr. Shao said the more high-profile launch of the new device was part of a marketing strategy aimed at making the Shenzhen-based company a global brand. The company, currently rank as the 6th largest handset maker, but it is targeting the number three position. He admitted that the name of the company was a problem (Huawei is pronounced HWA-wey) and that the bad press associated with security concerns had been a negative impact, but the company was pressing on regardless. He would not be drawn on how much the company planned to spend, but said they would not be matching Samsung's multi-billion-dollar marketing strategy. Instead, he said, the company was putting a strong focus on working with network operators and retailers. "Much of our money is going to develop the retail chain. Buy or not buy, we want consumers to try our phones." To help incentivize retailers he said Huawei was able to offer devices at a lower cost than its rivals, thereby increasing retailer margins. "Retailers have told us they do not want us to be a cheap product; it must be a premium phone." He said the company was also planning on using new media in far more creative ways. For example, he said, the teaser video for the P6 was viewed more than one million times. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGsAzuhkRr-9VEF7O3FP_7gD5XPQw&url=http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-255778/

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